Swede makes it look oh so easy as he adds to his gold medal tally in Munich, while teenager Tzengo takes javelin time
When Mondo Duplantis last won European pole vault gold outdoors, he was still a teenager and experiencing the feeling of going over the six-metre barrier for the very first time. His championships record-breaking 6.05m to win in Berlin four years ago really was a landmark moment for the American-born Swede.
A lot, of course, has happened since then and excellence has become routine for the 22-year-old Olympic, world and now two-time European champion, who is also a serial world record-breaker and light years ahead of the opposition.
This time, in Munich, continental gold was not celebrated wildly with a wide-eyed jump off the mat and sprint on to the track – instead, Duplantis simply stood and roared his approval.
With a virtually faultless performance, in difficult conditions following what had been torrential early evening rain, he cleared every height he went for at the first time of asking, entering the event at 5.65m before going over at 5.85m, 5.90m and 5.95m. With the outcome of the competition very much decided, he completed his evening’s work by breaking that aforementioned championships record with 6.06m.
The closest man to him was Germany’s Bo Kanda Lita Baehre, who went clear of 5.85m at the second attempt, before passing after one unsuccessful attempt at 5.90m and then failing with his two efforts at 5.95m.
Norway’s former European U20 champion Pål Haugen Lillefosse won bronze with a best of 5.75m.
“I think this season, I have experienced all kind of situations and these championships were very special to me,” said Duplantis. “The crowd was very special – it is a special place here.”
Elina Tzengko (Getty)
The other field event of the penultimate day of competition at the Olympic stadium was the women’s javelin, in which a PB throw of 65.81m won the title for last year’s U20 European champion Elina Tzengko.
That second-round effort put the 19-year-old Greek in full control, closing distances of 62.01m and 60.68m respectively gave Serbia’s Adriana Vilagoš and Czech Barbora Špotáková – the two-time Olympic champion who also competed the last time these championships were held in Munich 20 years ago – silver and bronze.
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