Vloon disappoints in pole vault World Cup final, world record for Duplantis | NOW

Pole vaulter Menno Vloon’s first World Cup final of his career proved disappointing. The Dutchman did not exceed the starting height of 5.55 meters on the night of Sunday to Monday and with that he was eliminated in Eugene. Armand Duplantis won gold on the final day and broke his own world record by one inch at 6.21 meters.

Vloon, 28, jumped convincingly in 5.75 in qualifying on Friday with new poles he bought in the United States. He was not allowed to take his old sticks with him on the plane to Schiphol.

After these qualifications, Vloon had high hopes for the final, but he didn’t even manage to make it to the scoreboard. The problem was that he still couldn’t quite reach the insert.

“I have no idea how that’s possible,” Vloon said. “A lot of things were possible here. I went for a medal, but I’m going home with the last place in the final.”

Vloon, who holds the Dutch record with 5.96 metres, also reached the Olympic final in Tokyo last year but even then was quickly knocked out of the competition.

It went wrong three times with Menno Vloon in the final.

Duplant is delirious with joy after a record leap

While Vloon was long gone, Duplantis lived up to his favorite status. His jumping world record of 6.21 meters was one centimeter higher than the 6.20 meters he achieved at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade in March.

As often, Duplantis is the only one to have managed to float more than 6 meters. American Christopher Nilsen won silver with a height of 5.94. Bronze went to Filipino Ernest John Obiena, who needed more tries for 5.94.

Duplantis, 22, first broke the championship record by jumping 6.06 meters in one go. After that, the Swede set the bar at a world record high, knowing he would cash a check for $100,000 (almost 98,000 euros) if he succeeded. On his first attempt, he knocked the bar down, but his second jump was clear. Overjoyed, he celebrated his jump record.

Armand Duplantis poses with the new world record.