Fresh from setting a new outdoor record, Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis heads a stellar cast into the inaugural world championships on US soil in Eugene, Oregon, that kick off on Friday.

Duplantis, who soared to 6.16m in Stockholm at the end of June -- 4cm off his overall best of 6.20m set while claiming world indoor gold in Belgrade in March, is seeking a first world title having had to settle for silver in 2019 behind American Sam Hendricks, absent from Eugene through injury.

“I’ve proved to myself and everyone else I’m in pretty good form,” said the US-born and raised Duplantis.

“It’s been nice to come back home and relax before the big dance.”

The Swede fired out a warning shot to allcomers, insisting he took nothing for granted.

“I’ve done a lot to get here. I feel like I’m very hungry,” he said. “I’ve done some pretty great things so far, but there are little things you can always improve.”

Read full article here

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.