A dream come true for Duplantis
Swede sets ninth world record of career in winning pole vault in Olympic Games
When it comes to World Athletics titles won and world records set, Mondo Duplantis of Sweden has a ways to go to equal the accomplishments of Sergey Bubka, who began his legendary career pole vaulting for the Soviet Union and ended it competing for Ukraine.
But the 24-year-old Duplantis, who was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana, by an American father and a Swedish mother, surpassed six-time World champion Bubka in a pair of significant categories in the Olympic Games in Paris on Monday.
First, he became the second man in history to win consecutive Olympic titles in the pole vault. The first was Bob Richards of the U.S. in 1952 and ’56.
Second, he became one of only three men to set a world record in the pole vault in the Games when he cleared 6.25 meters (20 feet 6 inches) on his third — and final — attempt.
The first man to do so was Frank Foss of the U.S., who set a world record of 4.09 (13-5) in the pole vault in the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. The second was Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz of Poland, who cleared 5.78 (18-11½) in the 1980 Games in Moscow.
While Kozakiewicz accomplished his feat during the fourth decade of the Cold War when a hostile crowd jeered every time he and Polish teammates Tadeusz Slusarski and Mariusz Klimczyk vaulted, Duplantis had more than 70,000 spectators rooting for him in the Stade de France on Monday.
It was a crowd that had roared its collective, full-throated approval earlier in the meet when Valarie Allman of the U.S. won her second consecutive Olympic title in the women’s discus, and Keely Hodgkinson of Great Britain and Beatrice Chebet of Kenya garnered their first gold medals in the women’s 800 and 5,000 meters, respectively.
“I haven’t processed how fantastic that moment was," Duplantis said in a World Athletics post. “It’s one of those things that don’t really feel real, such an out of body experience.
“What can I say? I just broke a world record at the Olympics – the biggest possible stage for a pole vaulter. The biggest dream since I was a kid was to break the world record at the Olympics, and I’ve been able to do that in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of.”
It was the ninth world record that Duplantis has set since 2020 and like all of the previous ones, it added a centimeter to the previous mark.
Duplantis, who had raised the world record to 6.24 (20-5½) in the Diamond League season opener in Xiamen, China, on April 20, jumped nearly a foot higher than silver medalist Sam Kendricks of the U.S., who cleared 5.95 (19-6¼).
Emmanouil Karalis of Greece and Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines each got over 5.90 (19-4¼) on their first attempts, but Karalis was awarded the bronze medal because he had one fewer miss in the competition that did Obiena.
They were followed by fifth-place Ersu Sasma of Turkey, who cleared 5.85 (19-2¼), and sixth-place Kurtis Marschall of Australia, who made 5.80 (19-0¼).
Duplantis passed at the opening height of 5.50 (18-0½) before clearing 5.70 (18-8¼) on his first attempt. He then passed at 5.80 before making 5.85 on his initial try and passing at 5.90.
He proceeded to clear 5.95 (19-6¼) and 6.00 (19-8) on his first attempts.
After two-time World champion Kendricks missed all three of his tries at 6.00, Duplantis cleared 6.10 (20-0) on his initial try to add seven centimeters to the Olympic record of 6.03 (19-9¼) set by Thiago Braz of Brazil in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.
He then had the bar moved to 6.25, a height he had attempted several times since clearing 6.24 in April.
While his first two attempts were solid ones, they were not close enough to make one think that a world record was imminent. But he put everything together on his final try and cleared the bar cleanly.
He began to celebrate as he was descending toward the mat after his clearance, and he then ran across the track to the stands where he received a hug and a kiss from his girlfriend, as well as hugs from his mom and dad, and others.
“I tried to clear my thoughts as much as I could," Duplantis said when it came to his attempts at 6.25. “The crowd was going crazy. It was so loud in there, it sounded like an American football game. I have a little bit of experience of being in a 100,000 capacity stadium, but I was never the centre of attention. I was just trying to channel the energy everybody was giving me, and they were giving me a lot of it. It worked out.”
With his latest performance, Duplantis has won 62 of his last 65 meets, including victories in the World outdoor championships in 2022 and ’23, and in the World indoor championships in 2022 and in March of this year.
He has also cleared 6.17 (20-2¾) or higher nine times during his career. No one else had done it once.
Like Duplantis in the men’s pole vault, Allman was the defending champion in the women’s discus entering the competition on Monday. But unlike him, she had been beaten in both the 2022 and ’23 World Championships, finishing third in the former and second in the latter.
However, she was dominant in winning her second consecutive title as her top throw of 69.50 (228-0) was nearly two meters farther than the 67.51 (221-5) efforts by silver medalist Bin Feng of China and bronze medalist Sandra Elkasevic of Croatia.
Feng, the 2022 World champion, finished second ahead of 2012 and ’16 Olympic champion Elkasevic because her second-best throw of 67.25 (220-7) was better than the Croatian’s No. 2 mark of 64.25 (210-9).
Marike Steinecker of Germany finished fourth at 65.37 (214-5), followed by Vanessa Kamga of Sweden at 65.05 (213-5) and Claudine Vita of Germany at 63.62 (208-8).
Allman, who has won 13 consecutive meets since last year’s World Championships, fouled on her first attempt. But she took the lead for good with an effort of 68.74 (225-6) in the second round and added a throw of 68.06 (223-3) in the third.
She then improved to 69.50 (228-0) in the fourth round before fouling in the fifth and concluding the competition with a throw of 69.21 (227-0).
“I wanted to embrace the crowd, I wanted to embrace this moment of being at the Olympics and giving it my all," Allman said in a USA Today post. “And to end with a throw with the whole crowd engaged right there, that's one of those moments I'll remember forever.”
Hodgkinson had finished second to Athing Mu of the U.S. in the women’s 800 meters in the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021, as well as in the World Championships in 2022.
She managed to finish ahead of third-place Mu in last year’s global title meet, only to have Mary Moraa of Kenya win the race.
However, she had won all four of 800-meter contests this year entering the Olympic Games.
She opened her season with a time of 1 minute 55.78 seconds in the the Prefontaine Classic in late May in which she finished nearly a second in front of second-place Moraa. Then, in her final race before the Olympics, she ran a national record of 1:54.61 in a Diamond League meet in London on July 20. The time moved her to seventh on the all-time performer list.
Mu had failed to make the American team after taking a fall in the first 200 meters of of the 800 final in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials in late June. And when it was revealed after that race that a torn hamstring had severely limited her training prior to that meet, one had to wonder if she would have been a serious medal contender in Paris even if she had made the U.S. team.
For her part, Hodgkinson posted winning times of 1:59.31 in a first-round heat last Friday and 1:56.86 in a semifinal on Sunday before running superbly in the final on Monday.
After the first 300 meters of race was run at a somewhat sluggish pace, Hodgkinson took the lead with about 480 meters remaining and never relinquished it.
Moraa, World indoor champion Tsige Duguma of Ethiopia, and Shafiqua Maloney of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines were Hodgkinson’s closest pursuers when she went through 400 meters in 58.30 seconds.
Moraa and Duguma continued to run in second and third place when Hodgkinson clocked 1:28.31 at 600 meters, but Hodgkinson had too much horsepower for either of them in the final straightaway as she began to pull away from Moraa with 80 meters remaining.
Duguma soon passed Moraa, but she was unable to make a serious run at the 22-year-old Hodgkinson as the Briton pumped her right arm in celebration just before crossing the finish line in 1:56.72.
Duguma finished second in a personal best of 1:57.15, followed by Moraa in 1:57.42.
Maloney, who was her country’s first-ever Olympic finalist in track and field, finished fourth in 1:57.66, followed by Renelle Lamote of France in 1:58.19 and Worknesh Mesele of Ethiopia in 1:58.28.
“I've worked so hard over the past year and you could see how much it meant to me as I crossed the line," Hodgkinson said in a World Athletics post. “I feel like I've really grown over the past couple of years and this year is the year I've really tried to make that step up. I knew to cross that line first I had to go one better than I ever had.
“I could feel Mary (Moraa) coming at me down the back straight. But I trusted myself and showed composure. And I got to the line first this time.”
Although Chebet had won her second consecutive World cross country title on March 30 and lowered the world record in the women’s 10,000 to 28:54.14 in the Prefontaine Classic on May 25, she was regarded as an underdog to compatriot Faith Kipyegon and world record-older Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia entering the final of the 5,000 meters on Monday. However, she proved to be the class of a very highly-regarded field.
The first two laps of the race were run at slow pace before Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal of Norway led the field through 1,000 meters in 3:10.7 and past 2,000 in 6:05.4.
Ethiopian Ejgayehu Taye then took the field through 3,000 meters in 9:00.1 before Tsegay was in the lead at 4,000 in 11:50.4.
Kipyegon, who had turned in an unprecedented double in winning the 1,500 and 5,000 in the World Championships last year, moved into the lead shortly after that. But she and Tsegay appeared to exchange some angry words with one another with a little more than two laps to go after Tsegay moved into the lead while forcing her way past Kipyegon, who was running to the inside of her.
While Tsegay maintained her lead for a little while longer, Kipyegon had taken the lead with 500 meters to go and it was two-woman race for first place between her and Chebet with 300 meters left.
Given the fact that Kipyegon had lowered her world record in the 1,500 to 3:49:04 in the Meeting de Paris on July 7, it seemed likely that she would soon put some distance between herself and her younger teammate. But that never happened.
Chebet ran behind Kipyegon around the final turn and then moved out to lane two entering the home straightaway before going past Kipyegon with about 70 meters left in the race.
She crossed the finish line with a time of 14:28.56, followed by Kipyegon in 14:29.60, and hard-charging defending champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands in 14:30.61.
European champion Nadia Battocletti of Italy finished fourth in a national record of 14:31.64 and she was followed by Margaret Chelimo Kipkemboi of Kenya in 14:32.23 and Taye in 14:32.98.
Tsegay, who had lowered the world record to 14:00.21 in the Prefontaine Classic last September, faded to ninth in 14:45.21.
Kipyegon was initially disqualified for obstruction involving her run-in with Tsegay, but she was later reinstated.
In addition to the four finals contested on Monday, there were semifinals in the women’s 200 meters and first-round heats in the men’s 200, 3,000 steeplechase, and 400 intermediate hurdles, and in the women’s 400.
Qualifying was also held in the men’s discus and the women’s pole vault.
Gabby Thomas of the U.S. and recently-crowned 100-meter champion Julien Alfred of Saint Lucia turned in the top two times in the semifinals of the women’s 200.
Thomas, the silver medalist in last year’s World Championships, clocked 21.86 seconds in the second of three semifinals to finish well ahead of 2019 World champion Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain, who finished second in 22.31.
Alfred won the first semifinal in 21.98 in a race in which Favour Ofili of Nigeria ran 22.05 to grab the second automatic qualifying spot for the final on Tuesday and McKenzie Long of the U.S. advanced on time with her third-place finish in 22.30.
Brittany Brown of the U.S. won the third semifinal in 22.12 and Daryll Neita of Great Britain placed second in 22.24. Jessica Gbai of Cote d’Ivoire finished third in a personal best of 22.36 to also advance to the final.
Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania led qualifying in the men’s discus with a mark of 67.47 (221-4) and he was followed by Matthew Denny of Australia at 66.83 (219-3) and Lukas Weisshaidinger of Austria at 66.72 (218-10).
Daniel Stahl of Sweden, the defending Olympic and World champion, was the No. 8 qualifier at 65.16 (213-9) and 2022 World champion Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia qualified ninth at 64.80 (210-6)
In qualifying for the final of the women’s pole vault, defending Olympic champion Katie Moon of the U.S. was one of six women who cleared 5.55 (14-11) on her first attempt without any misses in the competition.
The others to do the same were Nina Kennedy of Australia, who shared the World title with Moon last year, European champion Angelica Moser of Switzerland, Amalie Svabikova of Czechia, and Italians Roberta Bruin and Elisa Molinarolo.
However, the big story of the qualification round was that World indoor champion Molly Caudery of Great Britain did not advance to the final on Wednesday as she missed all three of her attempts at her opening height of 4.55.
Caudery had cleared a British record of 4.92 (16-1½) in June to move to seventh on the all-time performer list.
Defending Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali of Morocco and world record-holder Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia won their respective heats in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase with times of 8:17.90 and 8:23.89.
However, Moroccan Mohamed Tindouft ran a personal best of 8:10.62 in winning the second heat that included second-place Samuel Firewu of Ethiopia at 8:11.61 and third-place Abraham Kibiwott of Kenya at 8:12.02.
The top five finishers in each heat advanced to the final on Wednesday.
Geordie Beamish of New Zealand was a notable non-qualifier as he finished seventh in 8:25.86 in the third heat.
Beamish, who placed fifth in last year’s World Championships, had lowered the New Zealand record to 8:09.64 earlier this season.
In the men’s 200 meters, Americans Kenny Bednarek and Erriyon Knighton produced sub-20 clockings in winning their first-round heats.
Bednarek, who placed seventh in the 100 in 9.88 on Sunday, won the fourth of six first-round heats in the 200 with a time 19.96
Knighton, the silver medalist in last year’s World Championships, won the fifth heat in 19.99.
Noah Lyles of the U.S., fresh off his winning time of 9.79 in the 100, cruised to a first-place clocking of 20.19 in the sixth heat of the 200. Defending Olympic champion Andre De Grasse of Canada finished second in 20.30.
The other heat winners were Letsile Tebogo of Botswana in 20.10, Joseph Fahnbulleh of Liberia in 20.20, and Tarsis Orogot of Uganda in 20.32.
In the men’s 400 intermediate hurdles, defending champion Karsten Warholm of Norway won his first-round heat in 47.57 and Clement Ducos of France placed second in a personal best of 47.69.
Other heats winners, in order of fastest times, were Roshawn Clarke of Jamaica at 48.17, Malik James-King of Jamaica at 48.21, Rasmus Magi of Estonia at 48.62, and Rai Benjamin of the U.S. at 48.82.
Benjamin, the silver medalist in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, has the fastest time in the world this year at 46.46 seconds.
Alison dos Santos of Brazil, the 2022 World champion, placed third in his heat in a time of 48.75 as the top three finishers in each race automatically qualified for the semifinals.
American Trevor Bassitt, who has finished third and sixth, respectively, in the last two World Championships, finished fifth in his heat with a time of 49.38 and will have to run in a repechage race today in order to have a chance of advancing to the semifinals.
Reigning World champion Marieidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic had the fastest time in the first-round heats of the women’s 400 meters when she ran 49.42 seconds.
The other heat winners, in order of quickest times, were Amber Anning of Great Britain in 49.68, 2019 World champion Salwa Eid Nasser of Bahrain at 49.91, European champion Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland at 49.98, yearly world leader Nickisha Pryce of Jamaica at 50.02, and Rhasidat Adeleke of Ireland at 50.09.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas, the two-time defending Olympic champion, appeared to have sustained an injury during her qualifying heat and ended up walking across the finish line.
She will have to run in a repechage round race on Tuesday to have any chance of advancing to the semifinals.
The five finals on Tuesday are the men’s 1,500 meters and long jump, and the women’s 200, 3,000 steeplechase, and hammer throw.
You can click here for a daily schedule of events, as well as start lists and up-to-date results.