Duplantis given ‘wake-up call’ as Obiena steals pole vault win

BRUSSELS: Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis vowed that any danger of becoming complacent would be shelved after he suffered a rare defeat at Friday’s Diamond League meet in Brussels. Duplantis failed three times at 5.91 meters, falling to the mat on the third botched effort with a gaping mouth in stunned disbelief. Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines passed at the same height on the third time of asking, which left the Filipino also shaking his head in disbelief, so dominant has Duplantis been in his event.

It was the first defeat of a sparkling season that has seen the 22-year-old US-born Swede win 17 competitions, 14 achieved with vaults over the six-meter barrier. Those victories have seen Duplantis seal world indoor gold in Belgrade in March and world outdoor honors in Oregon in July. Both were achieved with world record vaults, of 6.20 and 6.21m respectively.

“I did a lot of things poorly technically,” said Duplantis, a meticulous perfectionist in a notoriously technically-testing discipline that needs mastery of the runway approach, proper handling of the pole and complete confidence in the exacting projection upwards and over the bar. “It’s rare for me to jump the way I did. Maybe I needed a bit of a wake-up call.

I’ve got to come back next year and do something more special for the people that came out.” Duplantis maintained that he felt he could have jumped higher. “But I didn’t jump as I would have liked, for sure. I am human and I make mistakes and I definitely made some today.

“I didn’t find the good rhythm on the runway today. I was just thinking about the wrong things. It happens sometimes.