Duplantis fulfils childhood dream with world record to win Olympic gold

PARIS: Armand Duplantis says the defence of his Olympic pole vault crown in world-record style came as no surprise as he had visualised it a “million times” when practising as a child in his own backyard.

Coached by his American father Greg, a former pole vaulter, Duplantis is a product of a track and field-crazy family which had their own vaulting apparatus in the garden. They were all present in the stadium and it was to them that Duplantis hurtled after sailing over 6.25 metres with no “pre-canned nonsense”.

“That´s just overflowed with emotions, freaking out,” said Duplantis, the new record improving his previous best by 1cm in front of a delirious 69,000-capacity crowd at the Stade de France on Monday night.

“I´ve been fortunate enough to do it several times now, but every time the feeling is kind of the same. This was a more extreme version. “When I´m going over the bar it´s like AI (artificial intelligence), it doesn´t feel real. That was more hysteria and freaking out.”

Having started vaulting at the age of four in his backyard on a makeshift runway and landing pad, Duplantis revealed his deja vu moment. “I´ve visualised this moment a million times in my life. I mean, this is every time I was in my backyard,” he said of his world record vault.

“I would just imagine that the bar was at the world record mark. It was the Olympic final -- that´s pretty much exactly what I visualised.” Duplantis was happy to bask in the moment and not be drawn into looking too far into the future after his success. It was the ninth time the Swede had broken the world record, an astonishing achievement given he is still only 24 years old. - ´Nothing to lose´ -

The silver medallist on the night, American Sam Kendricks, managed 5.95m, a full 30cm short of Duplantis´ mark. What next for two-time Olympic champion Duplantis, who is also twice world outdoor and indoor gold medallist, three-time European champion and a three-time Diamond League winner?

“Probably one of the moments where I cared least about the future is right now, soaking up this moment right now,” said Duplantis. “How can I care about anything else? When things align the way they did for me, you´ve got to enjoy those kinds of things.

“I try to enjoy as best as I can.” Duplantis could have waited until back on the circuit for a tilt at the world record, for which prize money is given, but he chose to attempt it on track and field´s biggest stage. “The biggest dream since a kid was to break the world record at the Olympics,” he said.

“I´ve been able to do that in front of the most ridiculous crowd I´ve ever competed in front of. “If I don´t beat this moment in my career, then I´m pretty pretty okay with that. You know, I don´t think you really can get much better than what just happened. So it´s dang amazing.”

Of his final vault, Duplantis said he was “just trying to control the energy rather than let it control me”. “I didn´t really have anything to lose either. I´d already won and broke the Olympic record, I was already Olympic champion for a second time.”