Armand Duplantis set for Usain Bolt party to celebrate pole vault world record
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Armand Duplantis ripped off his shirt in celebration and raced down the track in front of jubilant spectators.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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STOCKHOLM – Sweden’s Armand Duplantis said he was looking forward to a night on the town with former sprint king Usain Bolt, after setting a pole vault world record of 6.28 metres at the Diamond League event in Stockholm on June 15.
The 25-year-old cruised through the competition
Duplantis ripped off his shirt in celebration and raced down the track in front of jubilant spectators at the Olympic stadium built for the 1912 Games.
“It’s a magical feeling, it’s hard to explain,” said Duplantis, who had not broken the record in Sweden before.
“It’ll be one of the greatest memories for me, I think, in my career.”
That set up a wild night of celebrations with Bolt, who still holds the world records for the 100m and 200m.
“For me it’s pretty cool, actually,” Duplantis told Swedish broadcaster SVT. “He said if I break the world record we can party tonight, so I’m sure it’s going to be a fun night with him, but I’m just so happy.”
Bolt watched the Diamond League event in Oslo on June 12 before taking a train to Stockholm where he said he planned to try out the nightlife.
But the two track and field stars may not be alone, as Duplantis had a slew of family members in attendance in Stockholm to see him break the record for the 12th time.
“There were so many of them, it took me 10 minutes to hug them all!” he joked. “My two brothers, my mother, my grandmother and my grandfather.
“My grandma, she wanted me to promise yesterday that I would break the world record today, so I had a lot of pressure on me to do that in front of her, and I’m glad that I could do it for her,” he added.
Duplantis was not the only home hero.
Hometown runner Andreas Almgren fed off the raucous atmosphere to set a new European record of 12min 44.27sec to win the men’s 5,000m.
Olympic champion Rai Benjamin edged out Alison dos Santos to win the men’s 400m hurdles, with Karsten Warholm a distant third.
Warholm triumphed in the rarely-run 300m hurdles on his home track in Oslo on June 12, but Benjamin produced a world-leading time of 46.54sec over 400m.
Julien Alfred won the women’s 100m in 10.75sec, the second-fastest time of 2025. It was only the Paris Olympic gold medallist’s second race of the season, following her victory in Oslo.
Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith took second (10.93) ahead of Ivorian Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith (11.00).
Two-time Olympic bronze medallist Femke Bol won the women’s 400m hurdles in a season’s best time of 52.11sec. She finished ahead of American Dalilah Muhammad (52.91) and Panama’s Gianna Woodruff (53.99). REUTERS, AFP
