World record holder, world champion, Olympic champion and European champion. The merit list can be made almost endless for Armand Duplantis, who went to the World Championships in Budapest as a great advance favourite.
In the qualifiers, the Swede impressed, when he cleared 5.75 with almost a 30 centimeter margin down to the bar. At the same time, competitors had bigger problems than feared. Thus, the favorite was, if possible, even greater before Saturday night’s pole vault final.
Impressed from the start
A final that Duplantis started by clearing the entrance height of 5.55 with a good margin in the first attempt. When it was then time for the increase to 5.75, many wondered whether Duplantis would jump – or stand over the height.
Once the bar was raised to 5.75, it was clear that Duplantis chose to save the energy for the higher heights and thus stand above the first rise. Duplanti’s second jump in the competition would thus be 5.85.
– I think he is right to stand over when it looks so good at 55. He probably wants to save energy, save hope, get a little extra rest when the others keep jumping. Then it won’t be a problem for him to go in and take 85 if he just does the same way as at 55, explained TV4 expert Carolina Klüft.
Once the bar was raised to 5.85, eleven of 13 jumpers remained. When it was time for Duplantis, only one of six previous jumpers had cleared 5.85 in the first attempt. But the Swede had no problems at all and whizzed high over the bar, which meant that Duplantis took the lead.
Changed staff
But despite the good margin down to the bar of 5.85, it was not peace and joy for Duplantis, who had discussions with father Greg in the stands.
– It seems that Duplantis is changing staff. It was too soft in this jump, so he was over at his case and picked up a new pole to get more flight in the jump, so it was too soft, the one he had in this jump. Therefore, the height did not really come in this jump, said Carolina Klüft.
As expected, the height of 5.85 was a kind of bottleneck in the final. Before the increase to 5.90, only five jumpers had cleared the previous height. At the same time, Duplantis decided to also stand above 5.90 and thus wait with his third appearance in the final.
The text is updated
Follow Armand Duplanti’s golden fight
TV4 broadcasts from the Athletics World Championships in Budapest 2023 between 19 and 27 August with several Swedish medal hopefuls and international world stars.