Mondo Duplantis had the first word on day five of the Olympic athletics program. The pole vault final kicked off the evening program at 7 pm local time.
And, despite the best efforts of Noah Lyles and the protocol officials’ – IOC? LOC? – scheduling of the 100 metres medal presentation ceremony, Duplantis had the final word. Well, it was wordless as he didn’t actually say anything until he let out a roar on landing after his successful third-attempt clearance at a world record 6.25 metres.
Lyles, Kishane Thompson and Fred Kerley got their medals right after Duplantis had missed 6.25 for the first time. It was also his first miss of the competition, having first-time clearances at every intermediate bar he attempted up to 6.10. when Saw Kendricks missed at six metres and Duplantis cleared he had the gold medal, too.
Had superstar Lyles one-upped superstar Mondo? Seemed like he had when Duplantis missed for a second time in a carbon copy of his first fail. He had the height, but not the translation over the bar. A trackside consultation with Mum and Dad, a couple of centimetres’ adjustment of the position of the uprights and – Boom!! Third time clearance, new world record and take that Noah and the Protocols! If that sounds like the latest pop sensation it is not entirely inappropriate – Duplantis’s record was acclaimed with a burst of that earlier (and continuing) Swedish pop sensation, Abba.
Of course, the clash of presentation and world record attempt was occasioned not by any base considerations but rather the fact that Noah Lyles had been involved in the heats of the 200 metres earlier in the night. Whatever, it still made for a fascinating moment. Lyles may have to break Usain Bolt’s world record in the 200 final to grab back the limelight. Let’s hope so.
It was one of those nights at a modern major championships when fans wonder whether the offering might not be a teensy bit thin. The vault aside, just three other gold medals were to be decided – the women’s discus, 800 metres and 5000 metres.
Instead, Mondo’s 6.25 was the cherry on the top of a rich slice of cake. Faith Kipyegon was supposed to take the 5000 metres, first leg of a putative 1500-5000 double. But she was upstaged by dual world cross-country champion Beatrice Chebet and then disqualified over an incident in which Gudaf Tsegay appeared to try and push her way to the curb ahead of her, to which Kipyegon responded by grabbing her arm and barring her way.
Kipyegon was reinstated on appeal but one thing that will not change is the shock of the result. A 57.85 final lap and 2:33.73 final kilometre saw Chebet the winner 14:28.56 to 14:29.60. Sifan Hassan took the bronze medal ahead of Italy’s Nadia Battocletti.
And now Chebet sets up her own potential double in the 10,000, having set a world record in winning the Kenyan trial (at the Pre Classic!) a couple of months ago. Kipyegon? Well, she has got the 1500, her world record event, to come.
Directly after the 5000, Keely Hodgkinson – up till now the best female 800 runner on the planet without a global championship gold medal to her name – led at the bell, battled past Mary Moraa in the straight and withstood the late charge of world indoor champion Tsige Duguma to claim a gold medal of the Olympic variety.
Given her silver medal-string at the Tokyo Olympics and Eugene and Budapest world championships, some saw this as a redemption run for Hodgkinson. But what’s to redeem for someone with those laurels to their name. No doubt it gave Hodkinson added motivation, however.
And then there was the women’s discus. In retrospect it was won when defending champion Valarie Allman produced a 68.74 second-round throw. But Allman has since been upstaged in successive world championships in Eugene and Budapest. Eugene champion Feng Bin was in the field along with perennial contender (and several times champion) Sandra Elkasevic.
Elkasevic went into second place with a 67.51 in the second round, matched to the centimetre by Feng Bin on the very next throw. The Chinese thrower was ahead, even then, with a superiod second throw. Again, nothing changed before Allman won but there was tension in the air throughout.
Nothing like a pair of medals in the women’s high jump, but Australian athletes continued to perform well on day five. In the morning, Matt Denny qualified second overall with a distance of 66.83 and Nina Kennedy was safely through pole vault qualification.
Rose Davies finished eleventh in the 5000 final and Kurtis Marschall had only one miss up to 5.85 in the Mondo final to take sixth place. Having won her repechage heat in the morning session Torrie Lewis went out in the semi-finals of the 200 metres, Calab Law will go to the repechage from the men’s 200 heats and steeplers Matthew Clarke and Ben Buckingham went out in the heats. No second chances there, alas.
