Sweden’s Armand “Mondo” Duplantis retained his Olympic pole vault title by breaking his own world record and then celebrated in style with his girlfriend and teammates.
Duplantis outlasted silver medallist Sam Kendricks of the USA and bronze medallist Emmanouil Karalis of Greece before clearing 6.10m on his first attempt.
That allowed the 24-year-old to surpass Thiago Braz’s Olympic record of 6.03m from Rio 2016 before facing her own world record of 6.24 m, set in April.
When all the other events had already been completed and 69,000 fans were creating a deafening atmosphere in Paris, she cleared 6.25 m on the third and final attempt.
The Swedish-American, born in Louisiana, immediately got up from the canvas and ran to the stands. He jumped into the air and then hugged his girlfriend, model Desire Englander.
Sweden’s Armand Duplantis hugs his girlfriend Desire Englander after winning gold
The pole vault champion celebrated in style with one of his Swedish teammates in Paris.
The pair kissed as fans celebrated around them before Duplantis was mobbed by his Sweden team-mates.
The 24-year-old was so emotional as he hugged one of his compatriots that the two began pushing each other and even punching each other in the chest.
Duplantis also celebrated his victory by imitating Turkish shooter Yusuf Dikec, whose carefree style has made him an internet sensation.
The pole vault star has now added a second Olympic crown to her long list of achievements, which already included two world championship golds and three European titles.
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“I haven’t been able to process how fantastic that moment was,” she said later. “It’s one of those things that doesn’t feel real, an out-of-body experience.”
He added: ‘My biggest dream since I was a child was to break the world record at the Olympics.
“And I was able to do it in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of.
“I felt really prepared. I’ve never been so cooped up in my life as I have been these past three months. Now I’m ready to eat a lot of food. The party is going to be pretty big.”
