PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Armand Duplantis really had to fight for his WC gold.
On Sunday evening, “Mondo” was really bad in the pole vault final.
Then rival Sam Kendricks also took advantage of foul play to psych himself up.
Another WC gold to the collection for Armand Duplantis. But it got really nervous during Sunday night’s pole vault final at the indoor WC and the Swede was really bad.
The rival’s foul play
The world’s best pole vaulter by far broke twice already at 5.85 m and then “Mondo” really had to gather himself and focus. At the same time as the rival Sam Kendricks tried to do everything to psych the Swede during the WC final.
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During the competition, it was clear how the American was close to Duplantis and was on him with comments between the jumps. Now Kendrick’s foul play against the Swedish world star is revealed.
– Today we almost had him. I approached “Mondo” and said: “Do you want to play this game with me?”, the competitor tells Expressen.
– One thing you have to do to beat Mondo is make him jump. You have to make him make decisions during the game. We can push him to six meters and make him go away.
Duplantis gold
Kendricks was next successful with his plan as well, because after Mondo cleared 5.85 in the last attempt, he ripped again at 5.95. But Duplantis would not have been the world’s best pole vaulter if he could not shut out everything else and deliver under great pressure.
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The 24-year-old cleared 5.95, won WC gold and also managed to beat a new world best of 6.05 metres. After the competition, he has a good laugh at his rival’s foul play and psychotics.
– We were quite close today, maybe he wanted to be in my head somehow. I don’t know what he actually said, says Mondo to the evening newspaper, and then hears exactly what Kendricks had said.
– Maybe he said that, but I didn’t think much of it. I think he was pretty ticked because we were close today. I think he tried to do what he could to make me lose. But it wasn’t something I thought much about, it was quite calm.
READ MORE: Rival’s honest words about Armand Duplantis – do the daring thing and say exactly what everyone thinks about Mondo: “It’s not often…”
Sam Kendricks had to settle for a WC silver on Sunday night. Because he never came closer than that to world champion Armand Duplantis, and the American also sees nothing unsportsmanlike in what he did.
– It is our responsibility as competitors to challenge him. He was challenged and lost his breath. He didn’t break the world record, I think that was because we challenged him. I come here to compete, he says in the interview.
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