Armand Duplantis set for Usain Bolt party to celebrate pole vault world record
Armand Duplantis ripped off his shirt in celebration and raced down the track in front of jubilant spectators. PHOTO: REUTERS
– 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, clearing his four jumps up to six metres at the first attempt, before raising the bar to 6.28m to break the world record he set back in February by one centimetre.
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
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
First-ever T20 triple Super Over as Netherlands beat Nepal
The Netherlands beat Nepal but needed a record-breaking three Super Overs to clinch victory in their Twenty20 tri-series match in Glasgow on Monday, the first time a triple Super Over has been seen in T20 or limited-overs cricket. The Dutch posted 152 for seven and appeared set for the win as Nepal required 16 runs from the final over, but Nandan Yadav scored a boundary on the last ball to force a Super Over. Nepal made 19 runs which the Dutch matched thanks to Max O'Dowd hitting a six on the final ball, and a second Super Over was needed for only the second time in men's international cricket, after India and Afghanistan last year. The Netherlands, batting first, hit 17 runs and Nepal again stayed in the match after Dipendra Singh Airee hit a six on the last ball to mark the first instance of a third Super Over. It failed to live up to the drama of the previous two with Nepal failing to score a single run and with the Dutch needing just one run, Michael Levitt smashed a six to finally seal the win for the Netherlands. The Dutch, who lost their opening match of the series with Scotland on Monday, have a rest day on Tuesday to recover but Nepal are straight back into action against the Scots. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
3 hours ago
- Straits Times
Cocktails, canapés and million-pound horses set scene for Royal Ascot
FILE PHOTO: Horse Racing - Royal Ascot 2024 - Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, Britain - June 22, 2024 Khaadem ridden by Oisin Murphy in action on his way to winning the 15:45 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Couldridge/File Photo REUTERS FILE PHOTO: Horse Racing - Royal Ascot 2024 - Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, Britain - June 22, 2024 Britain's King Charles during the Royal procession ahead of the races Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers/File Photo REUTERS FILE PHOTO: Horse Racing - Royal Ascot 2024 - Ascot Racecourse, Ascot, Britain - June 22, 2024 Britain's King Charles and Queen Camilla during the Royal procession ahead of the races Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers/File Photo REUTERS LONDON - In the gardens of a royal palace, Swiss billionaires, Qatari royals and the odd former footballer gathered on Monday night for a one-off chance to bag a racehorse ready to run at Royal Ascot the next day. Over 7.5 million pounds ($10.2 million) changed hands as bidders vied to secure one of 28 thoroughbred horses, 18 of which are due to compete this week for a chance to win a portion of Royal Ascot's 10 million pound prize pot. The Goffs London Sale, now in its 11th year, is an exclusive auction held in the grounds of Kensington Palace where anyone, providing they have a minimum 150,000 pound credit clearance, can bid for front-row access to one of the world's most prestigious sporting events. "You could be standing in the grounds of Kensington Palace at six o'clock and by two o'clock the next day, you could be at the parade ring alongside the British Royal Family with your own runner and your own colours," Henry Beeby, chief executive at the 160-year-old Goffs auction house, told Reuters. Top lot Ghostwriter, who holds an entry for the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot on Saturday, went for 2 million pounds to football agent Kia Joorabchian of Amo Racing while the second most expensive horse, Woodshauna, sold for 625,000 pounds to John Stewart of Resolute Racing - two of the biggest buyers in the sport. Joorabchian, who is known to be a big spender after dropping over 24 million pounds at a single sale last year, said his son had picked out the horse and that it had a good chance in the Hardwicke Stakes, a prestigious Group 2 race held at Royal Ascot. Danish entrepreneur and hotelier John Christensen said he bought Super Soldier for 390,000 pounds so his friends would have something to cheer on at the races on Tuesday. Last year's sale turned over almost 8.5 million pounds ($11.54 million) though Beeby conceded that was an exceptional year. Most years the London sale raises 3–6 million pounds, he said. Horses bought at the sale have some history of success at Ascot, though this is by no means guaranteed. The last time a graduate of the London ring won at Royal Ascot was in 2021 when Oxted won the Group 1 King's Stand Stakes while others, like Givemethebeatboys, sold in 2023, have been well-placed. JACKPOTS The most expensive horse ever sold there was the French mare, Sparkling Plenty, who had won a Group 1 in Chantilly just days before. She was sold outside the ring in 2024 for 5 million pounds, beating the previous top price of 1.3 million pounds. The sale acts as an unofficial curtain raiser for Royal Ascot where trainers and top horses from around the world will compete over five days in races worth up to a million pounds. Highlights include the marathon two-and-a-half-mile Gold Cup on Thursday as well as numerous top-grade races featuring some of the world's best racehorses. Horseracing may contribute 4.1 billion pounds to the British economy annually, but it's often a game of risk and chance. While jackpots, - like the 9,000-euro ($10,402) colt, Kodi Bear, who returned 500,000 euro when sold again around 9 months later - do happen, for most buyers, owning a racehorse is a luxury. And it can go badly wrong. An American-bred horse, St James Square, was sold for $2.4 million in 2018 and never finished better than sixth in five starts. "We're dealing in luxury items, nobody needs to have a racehorse," Beeby said. Like all commodity markets, thoroughbred sales are not immune to global trade headwinds and tariffs. And like many trading houses, Goffs is navigating trade tensions with the United States – Goffs' trade with the United States was around 10 million euro worth of horses last year --and the fallout from Brexit, which ended a tripartite agreement on the free trade of horses between Britain, France and Ireland. "We are indelibly linked to the worldwide economy but by the same token, this is an extraordinarily resilient global business," he said. "We could do without [tariffs], we're hoping they're a distraction rather than a barrier." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
New Paper
4 hours ago
- New Paper
Royal Ascot still regal even against 'headwinds'
ASCOT The "headwinds" of prizemoney and rival racing festivals are even more concerning than they were last year. Nevertheless, the quality of foreign runners at Royal Ascot is "pretty positive", director of racing Nick Smith told AFP. The five-day meeting - described by Hong Kong-based Australian trainer David Hayes as "Melbourne Cup week on steroids" - which starts on June 17 is commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Royal Procession. Thankfully for the members of the Royal Family and their guests, the carriages are led by horses considerably slower than the splendid thoroughbreds that provide the day's entertainment. Mixing it with the best of mainstream European talent, there will be runners from Japan, Australia, the United States and "quirky" runners from Norway. Despite famous victories for Australian horses in years gone by from Choisir's remarkable double to superstar Black Caviar and American star Tepin, it takes both a lot of hard graft and Smith's powers of persuasion to coax their successors back. Smith concedes that being unable to compete in terms of prize money - Royal Ascot will boast at least £10 million (S$17.4 million) in 2025 - with festivals such as Dubai and Saudi Arabia makes his task that much tougher. "The headwinds are more concerning and more widespread than last year," said Smith. "None of those problems have gone away and they have even been exacerbated. It is getting harder and harder every year. "Over 50 Japanese horses went to Saudi and Dubai and those sort of numbers are not replicated in Europe. "We are doing our best in difficult circumstances. So overall I am satisfied with the situation." Smith says subsidies are offered to runners that are three-years and older as "you have to do that, you would get nowhere if you did not". Two-year-olds are excluded as "they could be anything, and if we did, there would be planeloads of them". Satono Reve, who bids to become Japan's first winner at the meeting after 10 previous challengers fell short, in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (1,200m) on June 21 and America's top-rated US turf horse Carl Spackler, who is Australia-bound, in the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes (1,600m) on the opening day are perhaps the most eye-catching. Previously trained by Chad Brown, Carl Spackler was bought by Yulong and will race at Ascot under Melbourne champion trainer Ciaron Maher and will be partnered by Sydney champion jockey James McDonald. The eight-time winner by Lope De Vega will then continue his career in Australia. "It would not be the strongest year nor the weakest," said Smith. "The numbers are not so relevant, more important is they are genuinely competitive. "Wesley Ward's two-year-old's are very strong. There are also a few quirky horses, including a Norwegian runner later in the week. "The Australian Asfoora coming back (after winning the King Charles III Stakes last year) is great, though the Aussie sprinters this year have been up and down truth be known. "Overall, though, pretty positive." Smith says of course there are names missing that would have enriched the meeting even more. "One is always wanting more," he said. "I would have liked Hong Kong stars Romantic Warrior and Ka Ying Rising but one has to accept that talent seems to spread itself around." However, there is much for Smith to enthuse about. Attendance forecast is up from 2024, and the Saturday of Royal Ascot remains the only race meeting outside of the US that NBC broadcasts on its main channel. "As ever it is a big week, a chance to be positive, show the best of British racing, advertise what Britain does best," he said. "We can get back to the politics and controversy in a week or so's time, which I am sure we will." AFP
