gold and world record in the pole vault at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Mondo Duplantis He came to Paris to look for gold, but also to defeat himself and expand his legend. The 24-year-old Swede, the best pole vaulter in the history of athletics, has not competed against its rivals for a long time, but rather jumps to improve its own brands. And on a warm night at a Stade de France that was once again a party, it met all its objectives. First he secured the first step of the podium in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Thus, with the peace of mind of knowing that he had already defended the title won in Tokyo 2020, It was for more. And, as everyone expected, he became a legend.

Duplantis was crowned Olympic champion by jumping 6 meters, a height that no one else could surpass. The American tried without luck Sam Kendrickswho took silver with 5.95, and the Greek Emmanuel Karalis, which was bronze with 5.90. So much for the competition reserved for mortals.

And then he put on his own show. A sole proprietorship. He first surpassed 6.10 meters, setting a new Olympic record. He did it with extreme ease. He broke the mark of 6.03 in force since Rio de Janeiro 2016 and which belonged to Brazilian Thiago Braz.

What followed was the world record. He set the bar at 6.25 meters to surpass the 6.24 he had set himself last April 20 in Xiamen. He failed on the first attempt due to a slight touch with a knee. I wait for the 100 meters awards, the one that crowned Noah Lyles with gold, and it was for the second attempt. He failed again. He had a third chance left. Obviously, he took it. And he did not fail.

That wild run from the mat to meeting his family and his team in the stands, while the stadium exploded, and the Olympic return waving the Swedish flag to ring the victory bell, at the other end of the stadium, They were the finishing touch to a night that had started much earlier and that had had a somewhat boring prologue. For Mondo, at least, for whom the difficult part began when many of his rivals were already defeated on the tartan.

The final started at 7 p.m., as scheduled, with the jump of the Norwegian Sondre Guttormsen, who passed 5.50 meters on his first attempt. But Mondo came into the picture much later. He did not try at that height and did go for 5.70 when five of his competitors had already jumped it. He passed it from the start, with a huge margin. And he sat down on the bench again to wait.

While some of the other jumpers struggled to surpass that mark, he spent time observing the stadium and the audience, wearing the pants and jacket of the Swedish team. From time to time he would sit on the ground or go for a walk or jog close to where the competition was taking place, without disturbing those that were being held at that moment on the track. And at one point, he was even seen looking at his watch, checking the time, with a bored face.

After also letting 5.80 pass, the Swede finally took off his jacket and took his pole to go for 5.85. The American Kendricks, Guttormsen and the Germans Zernikel and Lita Baehre had tried to surpass them without luck. Mondo ran, pushed himself and passed, leaving a lot of space between his body and the bar. He didn’t even celebrate it, it was a routine jump for him. And he returned to the monotony of the bank.

A while later he announced that he would not attempt 5.90 meters either, a height that is an enormous challenge for many pole vaulters. It was enough to see the effusive celebration of the Greek Emmanouil Karalis, who came to Paris with 5.93 as his best mark, for not throwing the bar to understand it.

With the same ease as she had jumped 5.85, Duplantis then cleared the bar when she was 10 centimeters higher. She was the second to pass 5.95 after Kendricks. Karalis tried, but failed on the first attempt and chose to look directly at 6 meters. The three of them were the only ones who reached that height alive.

Kendricks went first and didn’t make it. Duplantis followed him and passed without problems. And this time, he did celebrate. He hit his chest and screamed, which was not even heard amid the applause that the audience gave him. And so, he threw all the pressure on his adversaries, who succumbed to his power.

The American threw the bar again on his next two jumps. And the Greek couldn’t even push himself enough to try in the two chances he had left. The gold went, to no one’s surprise, to Mondo. Maybe that was only part of what the Swede came to Paris to look for. And he went for more.

Pushed by the applause of the public, which Kendricks was in charge of controlling the people’s spirits, he ran, jumped and easily surpassed 6.10 meters to establish a new Olympic record.

Was Mondo still hungry for glory? Yes always. That’s why he asked that the bar be raised to 6.25 meters, just a little higher than his own world record of 6.24, which he had set in April.

He went for the first one, but the rod fell with him. He remained sitting on the mat, looking everywhere, while a Ahhhhh echoed in the stadium. And he stood up when the almost 80 thousand people chanted “Mondo, Mondo!!!”.

In the second, he brushed her knees again when it seemed like he had passed well and ended up with a look of annoyance on his face. And it was for the third, the last chance he was going to have at Paris 2024. With all the eyes of the stadium on him, because at that point in the night all the other competitions had already ended, he gained momentum and flew higher than anyone else. He had flown before propelled by a pole. The stick remained still, it didn’t even move, and the stadium exploded. And Mondo, finally, celebrated like crazy, as the occasion demanded.

Olympic gold, a new record in the Games and a new world record, the ninth he established in his short but already legendary career. And his name written again on the Olympus of sport, that place where only extraordinary talents like him reach. Unbeatable. Historical.