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Two-time Olympic gold medallist Armand "Mondo" Duplantis continued to extend his winning ways in pole vault after taking the top spot at the Diamond League meeting in Oslo.
Duplantis soared to a distance of 6.15m to land at the top. Emmanouil Karalis from Greece was second after clearing 5.82m, and Australian Kurtis Marschall settled for the third spot (5.72m). Duplantis was safely over 5.62m and 5.82m in his first attempts. By the time Duplantis prepared for his second attempt, only three other men remained in the contest. The 25-year-old's supremacy could only be challenged by Paris 2024 bronze medallist Karalis, 2023 world bronze medallist Marschall and London 2012 champion Renaud Lavillenie. The contenders continued to fall out of the race for the top spot. Lavillenie retired after clearing a distance of 5.72m, while Marschall missed three consecutive attempts at 5.82m to be eliminated. With two out of the picture, Karalis and Duplantis were the only ones left to fight for the top. After the Swede cleared 5.92m in his first attempt, Karalis couldn't get over the line in three tries and got eliminated. Duplantis raised the bar to 6.03m but uncharacteristically missed it on his first two attempts. On his third try, he got over the bar successfully and scripted a new meet record, bettering his record of 6.02m. "I am really glad about it. It was really a nice jump. I didn't have my mind super fixated on any height really, I just felt that how things were turning out I felt that it possible to jump a meet record here, the best jump that I have taken here in Oslo by far. Really happy with that," Duplantis said as quoted from Olympics.com. He then raised the bar to 6.15m and went over safely on his second try, breaking the record yet again before retiring from the competition. Duplantis's next destination will be the Diamond League in Stockholm, where he hopes to shatter the world record. "On Sunday in Stockholm, it would be an absolute dream to break the world record. In fact, I could retire if I do! At the moment, the forecast is good for Sunday, and I am feeling good, I am in good shape and tonight shows I am jumping well, so who knows? It may be possible. I need to build on tonight and get ready now for the big one," Duplantis added. (ANI)
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