World Athletics Championships: Duplantis breaks pole vault record, amazing marathon finish
Men’s marathon proves closer than men’s 100m final as it ends in a photo finish, a first for a major championship
Armand “Mondo” Duplantis successfully defended his pole vault title at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Monday, before celebrating in style by breaking his own world record.
In another totally dominant display, Sweden’s Duplantis was the sole athlete to clear 6.15 metres while Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis took silver with a best of 6.00m and Australian Kurtis Marschall claimed bronze with 5.95m on countback from American Sam Kendricks.
Duplantis was not finished there, and cleared 6.30m on his third and final attempt to set his 14th world best in the past five years.
Earlier, the men’s marathon had ended in a photo finish, in a first for a major championship marathon as Alphonce Felix Simbu claimed Tanzania’s maiden world title.
The finish showed the 42.195km race was decided by three hundredths of a second as Simbu surged past the diving Amanal Petros of Germany at the line, closer than the 0.05-second gap between the gold and silver medallists in the men’s 100m final on Sunday.
Simbu and Petros were given the same time of two hours, nine minutes and 48 seconds, the German taking the silver despite heading the field as the leaders entered Tokyo’s National Stadium. Italian Iliass Aouani took the bronze in 2:09.53.
“When we entered the stadium, I was not sure if I would win. I did not know if I had won. But when I saw the video screens and me on the top of the results, I felt relieved,” the 33-year-old Simbu said.
