There is winning and then there is Armand “Mondo” Duplantis. Winning the pole vault gold for Duplantis is just a preliminary.
For Australia’s Kurtis Marschall, who has had the misfortune of having a career that collides with the peak of the greatest the sport has ever seen, that has meant a second successive world bronze medal and the joy to be witness to watching up close the Swede take the sport to literal new heights.
Marschall’s effort needs to be put into that context. Finishing third when you are jumping against the greatest the world has ever seen – by a long margin – is like trying to impress Shane Warne with your leg spin. His bronze is not diminished by that it is enhanced.
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis celebrates with Sam Kendricks of the United States and Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis after making a clearance to break the world record.Credit: AP
In other eras Marschall would have won more than bronze.
In the steam of Tokyo’s national stadium Duplantis broke the world poke vault record for a 14th time. Thirteen of those times he’s broken his own record.
To put his imperiousness into context: the silver medal was won by Emmanouil Karalis of Greece who was the only other man to clear six metres. Marschall once more won bronze with a jump of 5.95m and once again the 6m mark was a bridge too far.
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Just as he did two years ago – and in every other meet he has competed in for years Mondo Duplantis won gold. Of course, he did. He has the last two Olympic gold medals, and now a third successive world championship title. He has cleared 6 metres more times than any other man in history.
He was asked in Tokyo to clear 6.15m to safeguard gold. He did it at a first attempt, and it looked effortless, but he had the grace to celebrate like it was not.
