How the world’s best vaulters have got each other covered | NEWS

If there is an image to epitomise the camaraderie within the pole vault, the photograph of Mondo Duplantis holding an umbrella over Sam Kendricks to protect him from the Gateshead elements would be it.

In far from ideal conditions for any discipline, let alone one which requires athletes to launch themselves skyward, some of the world’s best demonstrated how the show must go on, whatever the weather, at the Wanda Diamond League season opener in North East England on Sunday (23). Battling heavy rain, a strong blustery wind and cool temperatures, the USA’s two-time world champion Kendricks handed Sweden’s world record-holder Duplantis his first defeat since the 2019 World Athletics Championships – held in slightly different conditions in Doha – thanks to a second-time 5.74m clearance.

Both athletes had entered the competition at 5.30m, with Duplantis seeking a 24th consecutive victory and Kendricks looking to build on his win in Dessau just two days earlier. After first-time clearances at that height, they passed at 5.45m and then soared clear on their initial attempts at 5.55m. Also choosing to miss 5.65m, as the field took it in turns to shelter each other from the rain, Kendricks achieved 5.74m on his second go, while Duplantis had one try at 5.80m after two 5.74m failures. At first it seemed as though Duplantis had it, but as the 21-year-old hit the mat and looked up to the bar, it wobbled and fell, ending that winning streak which dates back to October 2019.

But these athletes have got each other covered, and not just in a literal under-an-umbrella sense. The unity in the event is nothing new and just as they share in each others’ successes – the scenes after Duplantis’ world records last year springing to mind – it’s that togetherness in trickier times which paints a fuller picture.

Get a guy that holds an umbrella for you like @mondohoss600 does for @samkendricks ☔

📸: @Diamond_League pic.twitter.com/XdEP4Wf5b4

— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) May 23, 2021

“I’m a military man, I understand that hardship brings guys together – shared hardship especially,” said Kendricks, a first lieutenant in the US Army Reserve. “There was more honour in the event today than there would have been any other day and Mondo almost stole the show with that crisp 5.80m jump, but every time the conditions are weird it exaggerates mistakes and that bar fell and he understands the game. That’s just what happens and I came away…