Swedish pole vault world record holder Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis led a raft of stand-out athletes safely through qualifiers into finals at the European championships in Rome on Monday. The morning session at the Stadio Olimpico featured a host of global stars, with France’s world decathlon record holder Kevin Mayer also competing in the hope of accruing the points needed to ensure qualification for the Paris Olympics that begin next month. Mayer timed 10.
72 seconds for the opening 100m before going out to 7.37 metres in the long jump. Duplantis, the Olympic and two-time world champion, is bidding for a third successive European title and it would take a brave punter to bet against the US-born Swede.
He currently dominates the pole vault. This season alone, he has already won a second world indoor title and bettered his own world record to 6.24m.
No other vaulters come close. The 24-year-old only vaulted once, clearing 5.60m to ensure his place in tomorrow’s final.
“My first aim here is to win the gold medal and of course, I am trying to jump high,” said Duplantis. “I was very focused on today’s qualification. “And then it is about jumping as high as possible.
My big focus, of course, is on the Olympic Games. I always want to jump high so we will try to do something good on Wednesday.” Norway’s Karsten Warholm, a three-time world 400m hurdles champion and two-time European gold medallist, coasted through his heat in 48.
75sec, easing up a full 50 metres fro.
