During the 1924 Olympic games in Paris, the original motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius” was embraced. Over the past century, few individuals have epitomised ‘Altius’ better than pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis. The 24-year-old Swedish sensation came to Paris with the aim to take the Olympic pole vault to new, uncharted levels, successfully surpassing his previous world record with an exceptional final attempt reaching 6.25 metres.
By this point, it was close to 10.30pm in Paris and the Stade de France was buzzing, with the event already lasting beyond four hours. The excitement was palpable and the spectators could not divert their gaze from the spectacle.
Following a gold-medal-assured initial clearance at 6.10m, Duplantis tried to extend his personal best by one centimetre by setting the bar at 6.25m. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, the Swedish star pulled off a stunning final effort to a roaring uproar in the crowd, setting off jubilant celebrations as he joined his Swedish fans, elated at his achievement and breaking his previous poker-faced demeanour.
This was the first track and field world record set at the Paris Olympics and marked Duplantis’s ninth record breaking performance, with his latest being a 6.24m clearance at the Diamond League meeting in Xiamen earlier in the year.
Nearly three and a half hours into the competition, still vying for medal positions were four men – Duplantis leading, closely followed by two-time world champion Sam Kendricks of the US, Emmanouil Karalis representing Greece, and Ernest John Obiena from the Philippines, a world silver-medallist.
Obiena was the initial athlete to drop from the medal contention, with Kendricks emerging victorious and securing a silver medal with his impressive 5.95m jump. He added this accolade to the silver he previously claimed in Rio, while Karalis found himself the proud holder of a bronze medal, with a best of 5.90m.
Duplantis had a proven track record and had clinched the last five global pole vault titles since his Olympic triumph in Tokyo, three years prior. His victories included two each in both the world indoor and outdoor championships. Each time, he either netted a world record or was within touching distance of accomplishing one. Still, it’s worth noting that few world records achieved at Olympics, if any, surpassed the splendor of this one.
The women’s 5,000m final was a spectacle of power, speed, and arguably, the most formidable group of female distance runners ever seen on the Olympic platform. Of these competitors, three had journeyed to Paris with dreams of bagging either two or three gold medals. However, the reality was that only one could emerge victorious. In the end, surprisingly, none of them did. Kenyan Beatrice Chebet, who has twice fallen just short at the World Championships, emerged as the victor, dashing all their hopes with a winning time of 14:28.56.
Also among the aspirants was Faith Kipyegon from Kenya, who was hoping for a 1,500m-5,000m double. Faith had to settle for the second position, which she later had rescinded. Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands, and Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay were each eyeing a trio of victories in Paris.
In the early stages of the race, Kipyegon dictated the pace, choosing to slow things down because she trusted in her ability to outpace her evidently stronger competitors Hassan and Tsegay in the final stages. Hassan adopted a different strategy, starting at the back and waiting patiently for the right moment to advance, as was her custom.
Towards the end of the race, with only two laps left, Kipyegon and Tsegay nearly collided, with Kipyegon noticeably obstructing Tsegay, a move that cost her the medal. The final lap saw Kipyegon sprint ahead, pursued by Chebet, who held back until the last 50m before overtaking her for the first time.
Before Kipyegon was stripped of her medal, she had managed to secure second place with a time of 14:29.60. Hassan attained yet another Olympic bronze with 14:30.61, while Tsegay dropped to ninth place. Subsequently, Nadia Battocletti from Italy was upgraded to bronze medal status.
Hassan’s goal to be the first female in Olympic history to scoop wins in the 5000m, 10,000m and marathon events in one Games couldn’t be realised. Nevertheless, the night wasn’t entirely bereft of golden moments as Keely Hodgkinson claimed her spot as Britain’s 9th female Olympian to grab gold in athletics by bravely front running the 800m from 600m out.
Regrettably, in the past three international tournaments, the 22-year-old had to resign to the silver medal position, including her performance three years ago in Tokyo where Athing Mu of the United States surpassed her in the final 100m stretch. In the previous year, she lost the world title to Mary Moraa.
With Mu failing to advance through the US trials, Hodgkinson seized her opportunity. After staying undefeated all season at this range, she took the lead early at 200m and maintained her position till the very end, achieving victory in 1:56.72.
The silver medal was secured by Tsige Duguma from Ethiopia, the world indoor champion who ran her fastest time of 1:57.15. Moraa bagged the third spot with 1:57.42. Meanwhile, Valarie Allman of America managed to retain her women’s discus title, reaching 69.50 at her best.