Swedish Armand Duplantis, only 20, broke the pole vault world record previously held by Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie thanks to a jump to 6.17 meters during the indoor meeting in Torun (Poland) , Saturday.
Athletics: So high up!
The Swedish Armand #Duplantis, only 20 years old, broke the world record for… https://t.co/5NFmSujlXY
Assured of the victory in this competition after a bar passed to 6.01 meters during his first try, the Swede then decided to attack the world record. After a first attempt that was just missed, the second was successful.
European champion 2018 and vice-world champion in October in Doha (Qatar), “Mondo” Duplantis crossed 6.17 meters to erase the 6.16 meter mark of Renaud Lavillenie established in February 2014 in Ukraine. The Frenchman suspected that his country would one day fall into the hands of the one he has incubated and fed many advices since his arrival on the circuit.
Born and raised in the United States, but representing Sweden in international competition, his mother’s country, Duplantis entered the legend of athletics by having jumped higher than the “Tsar” Ukrainian Sergei Bubka (6.15 meters in 1993) and that the 2012 French Olympic champion, still active and in full competition himself in Rouen in France.
Not far from the record this week already
In a dazzling form, Armand Duplantis had announced the color on February 4, missing very little from already passing 6.17 meters at the meeting in Düsseldorf (Germany). He had only touched the bar with his elbow after wrapping his body over it. “All my life I told myself that I wanted to hold the world record”, then he reacted … three days before he got there for good.
On Saturday, he flew over the Torun competition by crossing all his bars on the first try with a huge margin, even at 5.92 meters, then at 6.01 meters.
Armand Duplantis, a veritable pole vault who holds numerous unofficial world records in the youth categories, has been multiplying his exploits for two years. In 2018, he became senior European champion in a fantastic competition in Berlin in August with a 6.05m jump.
Last October, at the end of a season where he had crossed the legendary 6-meter mark several times, he became vice-world champion in Doha (Qatar) with a jump to 5.97 meters, beaten by the ‘American Sam Kendricks.
Disarming confidence
Like Renaud Lavillenie, the vocation of the youngest pole vaulter to have been a World Cup finalist – at 17 in 2017 – is related to his personal history. Like her elder brother, she also finds her genesis in the garden of the family home. His father Greg, a former pole vaulter with a record at 5.80 m, installed the jumper that hosted Armand’s first acrobat games.
In videos shown by his father, the 4-year-old boy is seen trying to imitate his brother Andreas, also a pole vaulter. “As soon as I grabbed a pole, it was immediately natural. I grew up with a long necklace. He was available at any time. For me it was fun and I could have fun with it like a child. “, remembered the young champion when The world met him in 2019 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where his university is located.
When asked about his ability to grab his mentor’s record later in his career, Duplantis had given up, with disarming self-confidence: “6.20 m, it seems reasonable to me if all the necessary factors combine well as in Berlin. ” He only waited six more months.
Renaud Lavillenie was not surprised to have been robbed of his world record: ” I’ve known it has had the potential for two years. Now records are made to be broken, I had the honor of having it for six years, I don’t have to be disappointed. He has all the time in front of him to surely do better, it’s beautiful “, did he react to the microphone RMC Sports after the indoor meeting in Rouen, where he failed to cross any bar.
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