Pole vault king Duplantis rules supreme as Bol grabs third Euro gold
![Pole vault king Duplantis rules supreme as Bol grabs third Euro gold Pole vault king Duplantis rules supreme as Bol grabs third Euro gold](https://citizentv.obs.af-south-1.myhuaweicloud.com/57772/conversions/Duplantis-og_image.webp)
Sweden's Armand Duplantis celbrates gold in the men's Pole Vault final during the European Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium in Munich, southern Germany on August 20, 2022. (Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP)
World and Olympic pole vault champion Armand 'Mondo'
Duplantis retained his European title in comprehensive fashion in Munich on
Saturday while the irrepressible Femke Bol sealed a third gold of the
championships.
Duplantis, fresh from breaking his own world record in Eugene
as he clinched world gold with 6.21 metres last month, set a championship
record of 6.06m at the Olympic Stadium.
"It was great. The goal going into today was to try to
win and breaking my own championship record was the cherry on the top,"
Duplantis said.
Germany's Bo Kanda Lita Baehre claimed silver with a best of
5.85m, while Norway's Pal Haugen Lillefosse took bronze (5.75).
Coming into the continental showpiece, Duplantis was on an
18-competition winning streak and was once again a class apart from a field
that struggled throughout in cool, damp conditions.
"I felt like I jumped very well, I can't complain,"
the Swede said, adding a shot at the world record was never likely.
"It didn't seem like it was really on the cards today.
Sometimes it's like that, it's not for every day."
There was Dutch delight in the women's 4x400m relay, Bol
producing an outstanding anchor leg to overtake Britain's Nicole Yeargin and
Belgian Camille Laus to seal victory and a third gold.
In arguably the most packed schedule of any athlete in
Munich, Bol had already sealed an audacious double by winning the 400m flat and
her favoured 400m hurdles.
Bol, 22, took hold of the relay baton in third place on the
fourth and final leg, biding her time before smoothly moving into the second
lane and motoring away from her rivals.
"It was such an amazing race," said Bol. "I
really love to run with my girls and against other runners.
The Dutch quartet also featuring Eveline Saalberg, Lieke
Klaver and Lisanne De Witte timed 3min 20.87sec for victory.
There was silver for Poland and bronze for Britain, whose male quartet took gold in the men's 4x400m relay.
Individual 400m gold medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith ran a
strong opening leg for Britain and the inexperienced pair of Charlie Dobson and
Lewis Davey held their own.
It was left to 400m bronze medallist Alex Haydock-Wilson to
hold off rivals on the anchor leg as Britain won in 2:59.35. Belgium took
silver and France bronze.
More British gold came thanks to Keely Hodgkinson, following
fast in the footsteps of teammate and 1500m winner Laura Muir, by confirming
her impressive year with victory in the 800m.
Hodgkinson, still just 20, won silver medals at last year's
Tokyo Olympic Games, last month's world championships in Oregon -- twice behind
stand-out US athlete Athing Mu -- and the recent Commonwealth Games in
Birmingham.
The Briton hit the front with 200m to go, tracked by teammate
Jemma Reekie.
Reekie was reeled in by France's Renelle Lamote as Hodgkinson
went through the line, arms raised, in 1:59.04.
The French athlete took silver in 1:59.49, with Poland's Anna
Wielgosz claiming bronze.
"It's more of a mental thing coming into this being my
third championships in four-and-a-half weeks, so it's definitely about picking
myself up and focus," Hodgkinson said.
"It is still very tough competition out there so I made
sure I was on the ball - I am just happy I executed well and managed to come
away with a gold medal."
Greece's Elina Tzengko won gold in the women's javelin with a
personal best of 65.81m ahead of Serbian teenager Adrianna Vilagos with 62.01.
Czech athlete Barbora Spotakova, the world record holder,
two-time Olympic and three-time world champion, sealed bronze with 60.68m at
the age of 41.
The evening session in Munich finished with another
championship record as Albanian Luiza Gega won the women's 3000m steeplechase
in 9:11.31.
Germany's Lea Meyer took silver, 4sec behind, with Briton
Elizabeth Bird rounding out the podium.
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