PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Armand Duplantis had an incomparably good year last year.
And in the run-up to the new year, competitors seem to be giving up prematurely.
– It is quite tough to be a pole vaulter now, says rival Ernest Obiena to TT.
Tonight begins Armand Duplantis the new competition season and he is doing it as the world’s best pole vaulter right now. Last season, the 23-year-old from Lafayette really set the tone for his supremacy by winning every major championship in 2022.
Mondo’s success
“Mondo” won WC gold both outdoors and indoors, EC gold outdoors, overall victory in the Diamond League and broke three new world records. He was simply unstoppable when it came to jumping high with the help of a pole.
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Ahead of tonight’s season debut, which is his own Mondo Classic competition in Uppsala, the competitors seem to have already given up on the upcoming competition year.
– It is absolutely incredible, he is the best who ever played the sport and he is still making history. It’s pretty tough to be a pole vaulter now, but it is what it is, says the 27-year-old Filipino Ernest Obienawho actually beat Duplantis once last year, to the TT.
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Rivals celebrate
The Norwegian rival Pål Haugen Lillefosse fits into the chorus of praise.
– You almost get a little “starstruck” every time you have to compete against “Mondo”, he is the best of all time, says Lillefosse and is then asked if it is possible to beat the Swede.
– I don’t think so, but I hope we can make it a little more exciting. Now we are fighting for silver and bronze, it would have been fun to get up there and make it more exciting.
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The American Sam Kendrick has long struggled against Duplantis and realized a long time ago that he has no chance.
– Mondo is our trophy, a pole vaulter who loves the sport. For years I tried to change the sport, I couldn’t. Mondo changed it. People ask me all the time why Mondo chose Sweden over the US. He chose Sweden, we couldn’t get him. You should owe it to him, be even more excited than he is. He chose you and he gives everything for you, everything to put Sweden on the map, he didn’t do that for the USA, he tells the news agency.
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