PARIS: Sweden’s Armand Duplantis broke his own world record to successfully defend his pole vault title at the Paris Olympics on Monday.
Duplantis cleared 6.25 metres on his third and final attempt, surpassing his previous mark of 6.24 metres set in April, Xinhua reported.
American Sam Kendricks took silver and Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis claimed bronze.
“The party is going to be pretty big,” the 24-year-old said when asked about his plans for the night. “Not much sleep, a lot of partying, and a good time.”
Duplantis, a two-time world champion who has broken the world record nine times, is the first man since American Bob Richards in 1952-1956 to win back-to-back Olympic pole vault titles.
He said the crowd had spurred him on as he aimed to break his world record with the gold medal already secured.
“I was just trying to channel the energy everyone was giving me, and they were giving me a lot. It worked out,” he added.
Kendricks produced a season-best leap of 5.95 metres to finish ahead of Karalis and Ernest Obiena from the Philippines, who each cleared 5.90 metres. – BERNAMA-XINHUA
