The Athletissima meeting opened on Thursday with its traditional City Event competition dedicated to men’s pole vault. The non-DL competition was held at Place de Navigation in Ouchy on the eve of the main programme.
Armand Duplantis broke the meeting record with 6.10m in his third attempt. The 22-year-old Swede took his career-total of 6 metre-plus clearances to 53.
Duplantis cleared 5.60m, 5.80m and 5.90m on his first attempt to take the win before clearing both 6.00m and 6.10m on his third attempt. Duplantis improved the previous meeting record of 6.07m he set in 2020.
Olympic and world silver medallist Chris Nilsen cleared 5.80m to finish second ahead of Ernest John Obiena on countback. The Lausanne City Event repeated the same finish order of the World Athletics in Eugene
Sergey Bubka attended the City Event at Place Navigation together with IOC President Thomas Bach. Duplantis surpassed Bubka’s record of six metres clearances in July when he improved his world record to 6.21m at the World Championhips in Eugene.
Armand Duplantis: “It still feels quite amazing, especially on those third attempts. You never know what can happen on the third attempt, so those always really get the juices flowing. Six metres, it’s very special. I was pretty tired and I thank the crowd for the energy they gave me. I wish I could have made 6.00m and 6.10m but I took all three attempts to make both of them. The street event experience is a different type of energy and you get a bit more interaction with everybody. They are so close to you. For us, it’s overall more fun, and I think for the fans they get a better appreciation because they can really see up close what we do and how amazing the pole vault is”.