Six jumps, six clear jumps with a margin gave Armand Duplantis the WC gold in Budapest.
After securing the gold in 6.10, a quiet celebration followed before he sent the bar up at a new world record height of 6.23.
– Everyone jumped so damn well, it was a very high level today. It was great fun and I’m proud of myself and how I competed, says a happy and relaxed Duplantis to TV4 after the gold.
The Swede brought the crowd with him during his three record attempts, was close in second and third but this evening had to settle for only WC gold.
He was just as happy about it though.
Needed alarm clock
Någon rak resa mot guldet på National Athletic Center var det dock inte.
The obstacle on the way to success in Budapest came in connection with the Diamond League competition in Monaco.
A hip and thigh feeling that Duplantis himself called a much-needed wake-up call.
Then, after a long streak of victories, he realized that he had taken life too lightly as the world’s greatest athletics star and that he was far from invincible.
In addition, it was clear that he needed to take better care of his body.
Precisely for that reason, the Swede chose to fly over the chiropractor Jonathan Kymel from the USA to Sweden to get help with the damage sensation and also to find the right balance in the body again.
Already in the qualifying showjumping on Wednesday, Duplantis showed that the decision had been absolutely right.
He ran massage gun on the thigh and then impressed with his three jumps.
Then he managed 5.75 – with air.
In the final, the 23-year-old’s performance continued.
He started, like everyone else, at the entry height of 5.55 and was high, high above.
There he showed, as if no one had already understood in advance, that it would be difficult to match him for the noblest medal.
5.75 he stood over, took 5.85 in the same way as 5.55 and then watched the final jumpers disappear one by one.
At 5.95, there were only five left of the final field.
At 6.10, Duplantis secured the gold as Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines stayed at 6.00 after failing attempts at both 6.05 and 6.10.
Greg Duplantis, father and trainer, did not want his son to jump further and try for the world record because the sensation in the back had returned a little during the final jump.
Armand Duplantis himself told TV4:
– I’m not going to complain too much, it felt perfectly fine, but I started to get a little tight in the back during the six-meter jump. I was quite afraid that it would get tighter and tighter, but it didn’t turn out to be too dangerous.
Defended the gold
With the WC gold in Hungary, Armand Duplantis thus defended the first WC gold of his career outdoors in Eugene last year.
About having defended the gold, he tells TV4:
– It feels good. It’s a little different, now it doesn’t feel like I’m chasing something new, but I just have to defend my throne.
He will get another such chance in two years, at the WC in Tokyo, but before that another Olympics awaits, next year in the French capital Paris.
In total, the medal is his eighth in his senior career, which includes the Olympic gold in Tokyo and a further six golds both indoors and outdoors.
The Friidrotts WC ends on Sunday with among other things two Finnish gymnasts: the javelin final with Oliver Helander and the height final with Ella Junnila.
2023-08-27 06:38:24
#Duplantis #success #seventh #championship #gold
