PHOTO: Bildbyrån
They are the big giants of Swedish sports right now.
Sarah Sjöström and Armand Duplantis are blue-yellow world stars.
But both have a clear problem with their sports careers.
It used to be talked about Ingemar Stenmark or Björn Borg. Also Annika Sorenstam and Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been mentioned in the same sentence about Sweden’s greatest athlete of all time.
Duplanti’s greatness
But soon all these legendaries may be overtaken by our two superstars right now. Sarah Sjostrom and Armand Duplantis is well on his way to becoming our country’s foremost athlete ever.
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“Mondo” has already deleted the pole vault icon Sergey Bubkas world record and also the record for most jumps over the dream limit of six meters. And Duplantis is only 24 years old and still has so much to gain.
Sjöström’s WC gold
Sjöström took his 13th and 14th WC gold in long course this weekend and has a total of 20 WC gold during his swimming career.
“Swimmer Sjöström has long been one of the greatest in Swedish sports history. The pole vaulter Duplantis has been there for a couple of years. When their careers are over, the question is probably just which of them will be called number one of all time. Borg, Sörenstam, Stenmark and all the others are said to be behind it,” writes the columnist Johan Esk in Dagens Nyheter.
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But there is a problem with the super duo’s incredible superiority in their respective sports.
“Sarah Sjöström and Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis have the same problem. They are too good. They are so good and have won so much that their gold and records no longer automatically create the emotions that the achievements gave at the beginning of their careers and still do sometimes. And it is when the big emotions are involved that sport is a unique art form”, writes Esk in the daily newspaper.
READ MORE: Armand Duplanti’s honest words about Melodifestivalen – now admits what he really thinks about it
Instead, it is when Sjöström and Duplantis do not succeed that people react these days.
“When Mondo doesn’t manage 6 metres, I wince. He is in a period where he has to learn more difficult strokes in order to reach a new level, and that means that his career right now is more exciting than in a couple of years,” writes the columnist in DN and means the same about the Swedish swimming queen.
“She is in a phase of her career where she has opted out of longer distances. The disadvantage is that the shorter she swims, the less we who watch have time to experience. For this weekend’s gold, we didn’t even get a length after turning. She dives in, thumps on and pounds her hands on the tile. After less than 24 seconds, it’s over and you have to make sure you don’t blink during the race.”
Who do you think is the best of Sjöström and Duplantis? Share the article and have your say!
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