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Doha
Much as expected, Sweden’s Armand Duplantis swiftly cleared 6.02m to bag the top honours in the men’s pole vault with a new meeting record at the Ooredoo Doha Meeting of Wanda Diamond League at the Aspire Academy on Saturday.
The event was cancelled on Friday after strong winds posed safety concerns and technical difficulties for the athletes.
Duplantis cleared his opening height of 5.61m on his first attempt and went on to pass at 5.71m before clearing 5.81m, also on his first go.
The 22-year-old had the competition won at that point as USA’s KC Lightfoot and Chris Nilsen, Belgium’s Ben Broeders and Valentin Lavillenie of France also cleared 5.71m but could not go higher.
Duplantis then had the bar moved to 6.02m and his first-time clearance broke the meeting record, improving on the 5.82m set by USA’s two-time world champion Sam Kendricks in 2020.
He then had three attempts at 6.12m but it wasn’t to be and he ended his competition with a best of 6.02m - the 32nd competition in which he has cleared six metres or higher.
Lightfoot finished second on countback thanks to his first-time clearances of 5.41m, 5.61m and 5.71m, while Broeders was third.
Olympic medallists Raven Saunders, Mutaz Barshim and others were seen cheering Duplantis on from the stands.
Earlier this year, Duplantis broke his own world record twice in Belgrade, two weeks apart.
He first managed 6.19 and then bettered that with a mammoth 6.20 to take gold at the World Indoor Championships in March.
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15/05/2022
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