SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — The pole vaulter they call “Mondo” really can put on a show.
With the rest of the action at the Olympic track wrapped up for the evening and the crowd of 80,000 at the Stade de France still on their feet, Armand Duplantis rested the pole on his right shoulder and took a deep breath. Then, he lifted up that long piece of carbon fiber and took off down the runway and into the night sky.
Another Olympic gold medal already was his. When he came crashing down into the padding on the other side of that sky-high, pink-tinted bar, so was another world record.
Duplantis, the Louisiana-born 24-year-old who competes for his mother's native Sweden, cleared 6.25 meters (20 feet, 6 inches) to break the world record for the ninth time — but the first time on his sport’s grandest stage.
His next move was a sprint to the stands to hug his girlfriend and celebrate his record and second Olympic gold with all those friends and family wearing yellow and blue. The country's king and queen were on hand, as well, to witness Sweden's latest history-making leap into the pole vault pit.
It felt only right that the Duplantis drama came with Noah Lyles in the building.
A night after Lyles electrified track with a .005-second victory in the men's 100 meters, he was on hand to receive his gold medal and watch Duplantis electrify the field to the tune of 6.25 meters.
The drama played out over a half-hour at the end of the night, long after a slow and strange women's 5,000 meters had wrapped up and after Keely Hodgkinson had captured the first track medal for Great Britain at this meet in the 800, the evening's last race.
That usually signals a time for folks to start heading for the exits.
But Mondo's encore was worth staying for, and most everyone did.
Early in meets, it's not uncommon to find Duplantis laying down in the waiting area, biding his time. He often skips lower heights that he knows he can clear, saving up energy for moments like these.
He is a master of pacing and timing, and when the stage becomes his own, he delivers drama like this.
After Duplantis sealed the victory over the United States’ Sam Kendricks by clearing 6.10 meters, he had the bar moved to one centimeter higher than the world-record height. Following his first miss, he used a break — while Lyles was receiving the gold medal for his 100-meter victory — to study video on a tablet with his parents, who met while they were both on the LSU track and field team.
Another miss ensued, then another long break.
All of the racing had ended, but the crowd stayed put.
This time, tension ratcheted up a notch. The fans clapped in rhythm and sang along to the French song “Alleur de Feu” — “Light the Fire” — getting ready for Mondo's last try.
Duplantis got ready first by teetering on a foam roller, then removing his shoes, then putting them back on again.
Finally, he stood up, rested the pole against his shoulder and lined up for the last try. When he cleared the bar, he set off a celebration in Sweden — and in France. An hour after the stadium cleared, the song “Dancing Queen” by the Swedish group ABBA was playing loud and proud outside the stadium.
By winning a second straight gold medal and breaking the record for the ninth time — each time by one centimeter — Duplantis is now next to, if not above, Sergei Bubka as the greatest ever in this event.
Duplantis is in the conversation with the United States’ Ryan Crouser, a world-record holder and three-time gold medalist, as among the most dominant athletes on the field side of this sport.
When it comes to delivering great theatre, as he showed once again, Duplantis is in a class of his own.
Chebet of Kenya wins women's 5,000 meters after Kipyegon disqualified
Duplantis was the closing act on a night that included an upset by Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet in the women’s 5,000 meters. One of the world’s best distance runners, Chebet's Kenyan teammate, Faith Kipyegon, appeared to have the silver. After the race, Kipyegon was disqualified for trading elbows with world-record holder Gudaf Tsegay with two laps left.
Kipyegon’s ouster elevated Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands to a silver medal. Hassan will also race in the 10,000 and the marathon, trying to duplicate her three distance medals from the Tokyo Games.
Lyles returns to the track
Lyles returned to the track the day after his memorable win in the 100 meters to start the quest for his second gold, this one in the 200.
He won his opening heat in 20.19 seconds, then stuck around to receive his gold medal.
He said he did it all on only a little more than four hours of sleep.
“I had to stop watching the race,” he said of his decision to call it a night at 2:45 a.m. after his win. “Throughout the day, it’s kind of just been meandering trying to get the body started, jumpstarting it.”
Back to back for US discus thrower Val Allman
Val Allman won her second straight Olympic gold with a throw of 69.50 meters to easily top China's Feng Bin.
The medals from Allman and Kendricks gave the U.S. 11 so far in the meet, including three golds. That's five more than second-place China and the Netherlands.
Hodgkinson brings first gold of Olympic track to Great Britain
Keely Hodgkinson captured Great Britain’s first gold medal of the track meet, winning the 800 meters in 1:56.72.
This gold goes with the silver she took behind Athing Mu in 2021. Mu did not qualify for the Olympics after getting tripped up during the U.S. trials.
First Published: August 5, 2024, 10:03 p.m.
Updated: August 5, 2024, 11:15 p.m.
