Gold favorite Armand Duplantis only needed one jump to secure the final place at the European Championships in Rome. On Wednesday, he can take his ninth championship gold – and 570,000 kroner.
– It’s cool, I’ll take it home – jump high and fix it, he says.
By the time the world record holder went in at 5.60 – and cleared by almost half a meter – many competitors had already pulled away.
There were some difficult winds at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, though Armand Duplantis never worried.
– At lower heights I can do safety jumps so I had it under control. But of course it was super tough for many, and there were many misses today, he says.
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He doesn’t think the wind will cause any problems in the final on Wednesday night.
– We will jump later in the evening, I will probably do my last jumps at nine or ten o’clock and then it should be quite calm. Last time I jumped here it was in the evening and no wind at all.
The bonus money
To attract the stars to the EC when the Olympics are the big goal, the European Athletics Federation (EA) has introduced bonus money. 50,000 euros, approximately SEK 570,000, goes to the winner in five different branch groups on the women’s and men’s sides. The winner is selected according to a points system that athletics has depending on the results in each discipline. The pole vault group also includes high jump, long jump and triple jump.
It looks like Mondo Duplantis needs to jump 6.05 to secure the bonus. This after the Greek Miltiadis Tentoglou jumped 8.65 in length. The Greek is also certain that he will not receive any money, he has told Aftonbladet.
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Duplantis says he feels confident he can clear 6.05.
– It’s a really bad group division for the two of us. But we’ll see, it feels good anyway. That’s cool, I’ll take it home – jump high and fix it.
READ MORE: Armand Duplanti’s clear disappointment in the athletics European Championships – now airs his dissatisfaction after big talk: “It would be very boring”
“No sponsor”
Another Swede who has the opportunity to receive the bonus money of just over half a million is the current winner, Perseus Karlstrom.
– I don’t have a sponsor that gives me any income, so any extra income is very welcome, Karlström told Aftonbladet.
The event’s event group also includes the half-marathon, all-around and the relays (4×400 and 4×100 meters).
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