Armand Duplantis held the favourite.
He won the Olympic final in Paris – and polished the world record to 6.25 meters.
The gold medal is the star’s tenth in a senior context.
World record at the Olympics – I’ve dreamed of it a thousand times since I was ten years old. How can that be for real? It’s so much fun, he says to Max.
With 80,000 pairs of eyes on him, he stepped into the Stade de France to do what everyone expected.
To win gold.
Armand Duplantis did not disappoint.
The Swede excelled as usual and was high above the heights. After four jumps and six meters the victory was complete – but he had not finished jumping.
The 24-year-old first cleared 6.10 for an Olympic record and then sent the bar up to a world record height of 6.25.
Two demolitions were followed by a new world record in front of an ecstatic crowd at the Stade de France.
It’s hard to fathom. How can that be for real? So damn fun, Duplantis says to Max about the world record party in the Olympic arena.
It was the sickest thing I’ve ever been to, so many people and so much energy. So much noise when I ran and on the approach.
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis celebrates with his family and friends after breaking the world record of 6.25 meters.
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis celebrates with his family and friends after breaking the world record of 6.25 meters.
Photo: Jessica Gow/TT
After the gold and the world record, he hugged his parents and gave his girlfriend a kiss.
It is difficult to explain (what they mean). I am so close to my family and (girlfriend) Desiré and her family. All my best pals and friends are here on site. All my closest, all are here. So I’m going to party so damn hard with them tonight, it’s going to be crazy. And there is nothing that can beat that, he says in the television interview.
Triggered by world record attempts
Ahead of the Paris Olympics, Armand Duplantis said that he cannot decide which memory he prefers to have after his career; most gold or most high jumps.
After some thinking and starting sentences, he finally landed on a thought.
— That’s everything, the whole trip.
In everything and the whole journey there is a feeling that stands out a little extra and which he prefers above all else in athletics arenas. Duplanti’s favorite moment is when he’s standing on the runway ready to take on the world record.
— I’m much less nervous. The jump has to be perfect and I have to let the body just take over; I have to trust the stick, believe in the approach, he said.
— When the bar is higher and higher, then I jump better and better. Nothing compares to that feeling. It’s almost like an “out-of-body feeling”.
On the purple approach track, in front of family and friends, at the Stade de France, he got to experience exactly that.
Armand Duplanti and the new world record.
Armand Duplanti and the new world record.
Photo: Jessica Gow/TT
The crowd cheers
The cheers rose to deafening in the arena when Duplantis took his first steps and to tinnitus level when he succeeded and the bar remained as he himself sailed down to the mat.
In doing so, he polished off the world record for the eighth time since the first time in Torun, Poland in 2020.
The road there took three hours and 19 minutes.