Budapest (AFP) – World and Olympic champion Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis delivered a faultless display of pole vaulting to seal victory on the opening day of the Ultimate Championship in Budapest on Friday. Duplantis has touched down in Hungary with an injury concern, the US-born Swede having withdrawn from the Brussels Diamond League finals as a precaution when tightness in his leg resurfaced. In his absence, Greek rival Emmanouil Karalis took the honours there.
But Duplantis was back in dominant form, winning a high-quality competition with a best of 6.20 metres. “It was amazing. I really like competing in Budapest,” said Duplantis. “The whole show was spectacular. It was a really fun competition tonight. It was a little bit chilly, but I had a great time. Thank you guys, you brought the energy,” he said to the sell-out 20,000 crowd. “It’s been a long season for all of us.”
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As is increasingly the case, the competition was whittled down to the two best vaulters in the world, Duplantis delivering a true masterclass for victory ahead of a game Karalis. The pair lit up the stadium with their opening vaults, both soaring over 5.60m. While the Greek had ‘Zorba’s Dance’ playing over the tannoy, Duplantis had his own Ultimate Championship anthem, ‘Gold’, playing. The Swede, the two-time Olympic and three-time world champion who improved his own world record to 6.31m this season, skipped 5.80m, with Karalis going clear.
The bar went up to 5.95m, the height proving no problem for Duplantis, Karalis, and Norway’s Sondre Guttormsen, as well as Australian Kurtis Marschall and American Zachery Bradford, both at the second time of asking. France’s Baptiste Thiery and the US pair of Sam Kendricks and Christopher Nilsen fell by the wayside. Duplantis was the first vaulter over 6.05m as all failed, apart from one — Karalis. The Greek fell heavily on his second effort, but sailed over after settling his nerves on his third attempt. That successful vault kept the competition alive, and the bar went up to 6.15m.
Karalis piled the pressure on Duplantis by going over on his first time of asking. There was no panic, however, as Duplantis also cleared the height, left stockstill on the mat saluting the sell-out 20,000-strong crowd. Up the bar went again, to 6.20m, with Karalis bringing it down, but Duplantis going clear. Karalis then skipped 6.20m, the bar going to 6.25m, but it proved too high for the Greek, handing Duplantis another victory in his storied career. The Swede had three unsuccessful attempts at 6.32m, which would have improved his own world record by 1cm.
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