Paris 2024 Olympic Games: Sweden's Armand Duplantis 'on cloud nine' after breaking world record in pole vault final
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Published 06/08/2024 at 11:06 GMT+1
Armand Duplantis had always planned to break the pole vault record for a ninth consecutive time, but even he could not have picked a better moment to deliver. With all eyes on the Swede long after the track events had concluded, Duplantis gave them all what they had stayed to see. A sensational leap of 6.25m offered the double Olympic champion an experience he will "probably never" top.
‘It doesn’t feel real!’ - Duplantis ‘on cloud nine’ after breaking world record at Olympics
Video credit: TNT Sports
Armand Duplantis says he had the world record in his sights well before his final jump as he secured the gold medal in Monday's pole vault final.
Left as the final athlete competing inside the 80,698-capacity stadium and on his final attempt, the Swede sensationally cleared 6.25m to the delight of the masses who had stayed behind.
The last nine global records belong to the 24-year-old, and the double Olympic champion was still feeling sky-high the morning after the night before.
“It doesn’t feel quite real, honestly,” Duplantis told Eurosport’s Rachel Springer. “I’m still on cloud nine. I’m on a bit of a lack of sleep right now, but other than that I feel amazing.
“It’s weird, hard to comprehend, I guess. For me, I just try to jump as best as I can and I know that I can do it at a very high level.
“For everything that happened the way that it did, I’ve basically visualised this moment since I was a little kid, jumping in my parent’s backyard.
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Watch unbelievable moment Duplantis breaks world record to celebrate gold
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“For it to actually happen, Olympics final, world record, even when I was sitting at the back of the runway, I feel like I’ve been there a thousand times.
“It’s crazy. When you have such big dreams, the way that they can actually happen when you believe in yourself, it’s weird almost when it actually comes true.
“It’s better than anything I’ve ever done. It’s the day I won Olympic gold and broke the world record in the Olympic final. It’s the biggest stage possible for a track and field athlete.”
The Louisiana-born athlete bounced up immediately on coming back down to earth, making a beeline for his girlfriend Desire Inglander in front of the erupting stands.
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Watch as Duplantis celebrates gold with tribute to viral Turkish shooter
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Duplantis says the reality of the moment will “probably never” be topped.
“It was the plan,” Duplantis revealed. “I mean, I’m going to jump as high as I possibly can every single day, doesn’t matter when it is and obviously when it’s the Olympics, I’m going to give 110% on the track.
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“For it to go as planned, that’s a different story, so I’m very grateful for that.
“I feel like I just tried to release all my thoughts and get into some type of flow state and just jump and channel the energy of the crowd that I was getting.
“There were so many people. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced probably in my life, and probably never will actually.”
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Keely Hodgkinson took centre stage for the final track event of the night, gloriously upgrading to Olympic gold in the 800m final.
And well over an hour later, athletics fans inside the Stade de France were rooted to their seats, hoping to catch a glimpse of greatness from Duplantis.
“I didn’t know it was going to be like that but it happened like that where everyone was looking at me, I was the centre of attention and I think that only helped me,” said Duplantis.
“It gave me that extra push because I was starting to feel a little bit tired actually towards the end there.
“But when you have 80,000 people chanting your name, yelling at you and they want to see something special so badly, something new, a world record, that gave me more than enough motivation to go out there and try to give my all.”
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