Athletes

Duplantis takes Paris 2024 gold with world record 6.25m

Home
  • News
  • Duplantis takes Paris 2024 gold with world record 6.25m

Armand Duplantis added further lustre to his career when he cleared a world record 6.25m at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Monday (5), having already secured the gold medal two heights earlier.

The superlatives keep on coming for Duplantis and he is is now the two-time Olympic champion, having won in Tokyo three years ago, as well as the two-time world champion and three time European champion, his most recent continental title coming at Roma 2024 less than two months ago, as well as having set no less than none world records in his specialist event.

Duplantis dominated an erstwhile high-calibre pole vault competition from the start, imposing his authority with soaring clearances.

He went over 5.70m, 5.80m, 5.95m and then 6.00m, the latter height clinching victory, with aplomb before having the bar raised to an Olympic record height of 6.10m.

This he despatched with equal ease – TV replays showing he was almost 20cm clear between his torso high point and the bar – before moving the bar up to the world record.

At the European Athletics Championships in the Italian capital, the bar came down three times but on this occasion, at the third time of asking - after two near-misses when he just clipped the bar off with his knees on his descent on both occasions - there was no mistake, with daylight between Duplantis and the bar.

“I haven’t processed how fantastic that moment was," said Duplantis after the celebrations in the stadium had died down. "It’s one of those things that don’t really feel real, such an out-of-body experience. It’s still hard to kind of land right now.

"What can I say? I just broke a world record at the Olympics, the biggest possible stage for a pole vaulter. [My] biggest dream since 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.”

Duplantis became the first vaulter to set a world record in an Olympic Games since Poland’s Władysław Kozakiewicz cleared 5.78m in the famous Moscow 1980 final.

In an entertaining competition, Roma 2024 silver medallist Emmanouíl Karalís became the first Greek vaulter to win a medal since 1956, taking the bronze with a clearance at 5.90m before one failure at 5.95m and two at 6.00m in a bid to improve his standing.

Hodgkinson finally gets gold

Barely 30 minutes before Duplantis brought the Stade de France into a frenzy, Great Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson also fulfilled her role as the favourite in the 800m with a commanding performance over two laps of the track.

Having publicly declared she was “sick of silver” on the global stage after second place at the Tokyo Olympic Games and the last two World Athletics Championships, from the gun it was clear that she was not going to settle for anything less than gold.

Hodgkinson moved the front just 200 metres into the race and controlled the tempo from the front, going through the bell in 58.30.

Despite being challenged by several rivals through the next 300 metres, the Briton found another gear coming into the home straight for a second time and pulled away to win almost with ease in 1:56.72.

“That was absolutely incredible. I’ve worked so hard for this over the last year and I think you could see how much it meant to me when I crossed the line,” reflected Hodgkinson.

“What better place to do it. It felt like a home crowd, even though we’re in Paris. I wanted to be near the front [on the first lap] and it was probably quicker than I wanted ot to be at the bell but I think everyone was tired with back-to-back semis and final but I had something saved for the last 100.”

Medals for Hassan and Elkasevic

The women’s 5000m was full of drama and eventually saw The Netherlands’ Tokyo 500m winner Sifan Hassan take the bronze medal.

The race was won by Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet in 14:28.56, a superb time considering the lamentably slow first two kilometres, with her compatriot Faith Kipyegon following her across the line in 14:29.60.

However, the latter was initially disqualified for an infringement earlier in the race and for about an hour the fast-finishing Hassan -  who realistically left herself too much to do on the last lap to reel in the leading pair after purposefully keeping out of trouble and staying at the back of the leading group for much of the penultimate lap - was upgraded to silver after having clocked 14:30.61, before the announcement that the Kenyan team had successfully appealed Kipyegon's case.

Spare a thought as well for Italy's Roma 2024 5000m champion Nadia Battocletti, who battled all  the way to the line having been aware she was going into new territory and reduced her national record set when winning in Rome by more than three seconds with a time of 14:31.64.
 
Initially finishing fourth but happy enough with her national record, a stunned Battocletti found out about 10 minutes after she crossed the line, having left the track and in the process of giving interviews to TV reporters, that she had been given a place on the Paris 2024 podium only to be kicked off it about an hour later.

London 2012 and Rio 2016 discus champion Sandra Elkasevic, now 34, showed she is still a force to be reckoned at the very highest level when she added to her extensive collection of medals with a bronze courtesy of her fourth round effort of 67.51m.

However, Elkasevic missed out on a silver on the ‘count back’ rule when China’s Bin Feng threw exactly the same distance later in the same round and had better supporting marks. USA’s Valerie Allman defended her Olympic title from Tokyo with a best throw of 69.50m.

Earlier in the evening, Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita both made it through to Tuesday’s 200m final when finishing second in their semi-finals.

Both have said they have a point to prove after the 100m with Neita just missing out on a medal when finishing fourth while 2019 world 200m and 2024 European 100m champion Asher-Smith was bitterly disappointed to depart from the shorter sprint at the semi-final stage.

Phil Minshull for European Athletics




Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Official Partners
Broadcast Partner
Broadcast Partner
Preferred Suppliers
Official Supplier
Supporting Hotel
Photography Agency