What’s more, his 6.03m record remains, against the odds. Yet it is worth remembering that coming into Tokyo, Braz was the only athlete to have ever vaulted over six metres at the Olympic Games. A fired-up Nilsen cried out to his coach saying "it's there" after narrowly failing at the same height, but he was ultimately left to settle for silver after three failures. But the American performed superbly in Kendricks' absence, making it over 5.97m - the highest jump of his life - open-mouthed as he hung agonisingly in the air and even clipped the bar on the way down.ĭuplantis replied straight back, leaving the ground with stunning speed and athleticism at 6.02m. After all, the two have been close since their high school days in the United States. In a typical show of camaraderie, Nilsen was quick to congratulate and joke with Duplantis after each clearance. Then came the final few tense and defining moments of the competition. Vaulting sparingly after landing awkwardly on an already injured ankle in warm-up, 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie passed his way up to 5.92m but ultimately bowed out with a best of 5.70m. Showing the sort of form he hasn't showed since that Olympic final five years ago, Braz looked inspired as he cleared the next height of 5.87m - which would eventually seal him bronze - but Karalis and Lisek went out. From then on, it was expected that three-time world medallist Piotr Lisek would go all-out to do better than his fourth place finish at the last Olympics which was won famously on home soil by Thiago Braz of Brazil. Among them, Emmanouil Karalis of Greece, who shouted in delight after equalling his best ever clearance at that height. Ahead of her, the unstoppable talent of Athing Mu, became the first American woman to win gold since Madeline Manning 53 years ago, running a scintillating 1:55.21.īefore that race had started, the temperature of the men's pole vault final had begun to crank up a notch with seven men going over 5.80m. Meanwhile, British teenager Keely Hodgkinson added a sensational Olympic 800m silver to her European indoor title in a final fronted by two 19-year-olds who set remarkable national records. Only once Duplantis had cleared 6.02m on his first attempt - a feat Nilsen could not match - was he assured of adding the much-craved title to his collection that includes the European gold he won in Berlin in 2018. But instead it was his relatively unknown compatriot, the Pan-American Games winner Christopher Nilsen, who asked the toughest questions with a 5.97m lifetime best clearance that would have won all but the last two Olympic gold medals. Most people had metaphorically hung the gold medal around the neck of the 21-year-old following the withdrawal of world champion Sam Kendricks of the USA due to a positive coronavirus on the eve of the Games. World pole vault record-holder Armand Duplantis fulfilled his dream of becoming Olympic champion, but the Swede was pushed harder than expected in a competition where he came agonisingly close to a highest ever 6.19m vault in Tokyo on Tuesday (3).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |