Armand “Mondo” Duplantis won the pole vault gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in an empty stadium where the clacking of his spikes on the runway and the artificial din of prerecorded crowd noise provided the soundtrack.
When Duplantis won gold at the World Athletics Championships at the same venue on Monday night, a little over four years later, the scene was completely different. The rows of seats that sat empty during the Olympics were filled with over 53,000 fans who created an electric atmosphere as the Swedish superstar set a world record.
“It was really, really amazing,” Duplantis said afterward. “It exceeded my wildest dreams and expectations of what it would be like jumping in this stadium with a full crowd.”
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.