Olympic pole vault champion Duplantis wins 3rd event of 2023 season

LIEVIN: Reigning world and Olympic pole vault champion Armand "Mondo" Duplantis of Sweden maintained his winning momentum in his third event of the season, taking the win with a height of 6.01m at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais, the World Indoor Tour gold level meet.

Wednesday's win was the third successive win for Duplantis in the indoor season after 6.10m in Uppsala on February 2 and 6.06m in Berlin last Friday.

Duplantis cleared 6.01m on his second attempt but he opted not to try to beat his own world record of 6.21m.

The world record holder had seemed less than happy from his first effort, at 5.64m, where he sailed over but left a trailing knee close to the bar on the way down.

After passing at 5.73m, a first-time clearance at 5.82m established him as joint-leader with Italy's Claudio Stecchi, who had also managed 5.82m, a personal best, with his first effort.

He then took two attempts to clear 5.91m, but as all four remaining rivals went out at that point it was hardly critical, with Stecchi finishing second.

Australia's double Commonwealth champion Kurtis Marschall and Jacob Wooten of the United States finished joint third with 5.82m.

Despite the victory, Duplantis was less than pleased with his overall performance.

"I did not feel well. It didn't go the way I wanted and I can't really explain why. My body just didn't respond the way I wanted it to. I felt a little flat. I feel really upset and uncomfortable because this is the second time I have had to leave this meeting early. I love this place and it deserves a higher standard. I promise I will before I finish," he said after the win.

"I started my competition with a few bad jumps and never really got into the competition. It wasn't that I was tired or that I did really heavy workouts, but I just screwed up anything in my tracks. Now I need to recover, but my goal is still to break the world record this winter."

The 23-year-old Swede has a breakthrough season in 2022, during which he set three world records, won two global titles, won 18 of his 19 competitions and vaulted six meters or higher 23 times.

He was also named the World Athlete of the Year at the World Athletics Awards 2022 in December.

The 23-year-old Swede has a breakthrough season in 2022, during which he set three world records, won two global titles, won 18 of his 19 competitions and vaulted six meters or higher 23 times.