Kendricks takes second pole vault gold after duel
DOHA: Sam Kendricks of the United States clinched his second consecutive world title on Tuesday after a duel with European champion Armand Duplantis that electrified the usually muted crowd at Khalifa International Stadium.
Kendricks stayed alive by clearing 5.87 and 5.97 metres in his third and final attempts but it was his first-time clearance at 5.92 that put him above Duplantis and earned him gold when neither man could clear 6.02.
Kendricks, who came into the championships with a season’s best of 6.06, became the first pole vaulter to secure repeat wins at the worlds since Sergey Bubka clinched his sixth consecutive title in 1997.
Sweden’s Duplantis knocked down the bar on this first attempt to clear 5.87 but comfortably cleared the height on his second attempt, pounding his fist on his chest as he stood up from the pit.
The 19-year-old encountered trouble at 5.92, failing to clear on his first two attempts. He remained in contention by lifting himself over the bar on his third try, prompting cheers from a pack of Swedish fans in the crowd.
“He’s not just 19. He’s 19 with 10 years of pole vault experience,” Kendricks, 27, said of his Swedish rival.
“It’s going to be harder every time, for him and for me, to go for that victory.”
Piotr Lisek of Poland, twice a world championship medallist before, settled for bronze after failing to get over the bar at 5.97.
In a display of camaraderie, all three medallists backflipped simultaneously in celebration, drawing cheers and claps from the crowd.
COE PLAYS DOWN EMPTY SEATS
Global athletics chief Sebastian Coe played down the spectacle of empty seats at the World Championships in Qatar on Wednesday, vowing to continue to seek out new territories to stage the championships in future.
The opening three days of competition in Doha were marked by swathes of empty seats at the Khalifa Stadium, where capacity had already been reduced to a modest 21,000.
Several athletes have joined the criticism over the poor attendances, questioning the decision to stage the championships in the Middle East for the first time.
However International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Coe insisted that the quality of the performances on the track had outshone the issue of the empty stadium.
“We want a full stadium and that has to be the challenge but we need to focus also on the absolute quality of what we are seeing here,” Coe said.
“I can’t remember a World championships actually that has delivered at this level for a long time,” he added, citing the example of Tuesday’s 800m final won by Donavan Brazier and Monday’s 400m hurdles battle won by Norway’s Karsten Warholm.
Crowds have improved since the low attendances of last weekend, with more fans filling seats on Monday and Tuesday’s sessions.
Coe added that the championships had also been affected by the regional tensions, which have seen Qatar boycotted by its neighbours.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and their allies have cut direct air, land and shipping routes, closed airspace to Qatari aircraft and restricted citizens from visiting.
“It was always going to be a challenge and this is a country that has to deal with a set of circumstances that none of us foresaw five years ago when Qatar was given the chance of hosting it,” Coe said, citing the example of a recent flight he had taken from Doha to Abu Dhabi which had taken seven hours.
“I went through Oman and sat there for four or five hours,” Coe said. “That’s a 45-minute flight. The ability to move around has been severely restricted.” Coe meanwhile said that the IAAF would continue to seek out new venues for the championships rather than rotating through traditional European strongholds of track and field.