By Brooklynn Loiselle
PALO ALTO, Calif.—Heading into Sunday’s pole vault at the Prefontaine Classic, Armand Duplantis had two thoughts in his mind: establish himself as a professional and get revenge for losing the 2019 NCAA title.
He did both.
The 19-year-old won claimed first Diamond League win after signing with Puma with a vault of 19 feet, 5 ½ inches. Sam Kendricks of Nike took second in 19-3 ½, and third-place finisher Piotr Lisek vaulted 18-8 ¾. Duplantis also topped Christopher Nilsen, who had previously beaten him with a jump of 19-6 ¼ inches meters at the NCAA championships.
“As the competitor, I always want to get the revenge. So today, coming in, I think that was something I definitely wanted to do is to beat him,” Duplantis said. “I wanted to beat everybody, but I think there was a little added motivation coming from the upset.”
While Nilsen and Duplantis battled it out in college, Lisek and Kendricks had a fight of their own in the Diamond League. Lisek has yet to beat Kendricks, the reigning world champion, this season. He finished second behind Kendricks in their last three meetings in Oslo, Chorzów and Ostrava.
But at the Pre Classic, the battle did not come down to either of these rivalries. Instead, it came down to Duplantis and Kendricks.
They eased through the first four vaults of competition, not faulting until Duplantis missed at 19-3 ½ once all of the other competitors were already out of the contest.
Duplantis made the gutsy call and decided to pass on his next two jumps at the height while Kendricks cleared on his first attempt, setting a new facility record for Cobb Track and Angell Field. The previous facility record of 19-2 ½ set by Toby Stevenson had stood for 15 years.
However, the record lasted only a matter of minutes.
Duplantis and Kendricks missed at their first attempts at 19-5 ½, leaving Duplantis just one more attempt to stay in the competition. That was all he needed.
Duplantis soared over the pole on his third attempt, throwing his fist into the air as he walked off the pit. Kendricks tried to keep up with the collegiate record holder, but he missed on his next two attempts, resulting in his first loss since April at the Drake Relays. Duplantis, meanwhile, took the title—and the new facility record.
“I thought we were going to get to share the stadium record,” Kendricks said while looking at Duplantis. “But Mondo says, ‘No I’m going to put it higher,’ so that was pretty hardcore.”
Duplantis aimed to vault 19-8 ½ to better his world-leading jump but was unsuccessful after three attempts. Although he had no competition, Duplantis said his mindset stayed the same when attempting the world-leading height.
“It’s the same goal as it was before. You’re just trying to get over the bar,” Duplantis said.
However, Kendricks was quick to point out that this is not what Duplantis told him on the field.
“I was tired,” Duplantis confessed.
Duplantis beat what was a decorated field at Stanford University that had an extensive history of competing against one another. Thiago Braz, the reigning Olympic champion, finished seventh with a vault of 18-4 ¾ while Renaud Lavillenie, the world record holder and Rio silver medalist, finished last after only clearing one height at 7-11.
Duplantis will have plenty of opportunities to become more familiar with his new group of competitors. Seven of the eight vaulters in Sunday’s Pre Classic are scheduled to compete in the IAAF Diamond League meet in Lausanne, Switzerland, this Friday. However, Kendricks is confident the results will be different.
“My favorite place,” Kendricks said. “I got the meet record.”
