Contemplating Armand Duplantis (23) in a Starbucks in Eugene (Oregon), last summer, the chronicler thought he was contemplating the bustle of a normal guy.
While his companions took their seats, Duplantis went through the register and paid for breakfast. When finished, the man picked up the tray and handed it to the waiter, and even asked for a napkin to mop the floor: a few drops of coffee had spilled on the tile.
When Duplantis was leaving the stage, the chronicler could not help it. He wished him luck for the next day, when he was to contest the pole vault final of the World Championships.
"Thank you, man," replied Duplantis.
The next day, that normal guy, neither very big nor disproportionately muscular, actually an athletics phenomenon, gave the chronicler another magical moment: he raised his world record to 6.21m.
The gift was for the chronicler, and also for athletics lovers, and even for the Swede's rivals: they had all sat down on the bench to follow the exploits of their franchise man, an ambassador of the discipline, the best that has ever never existed, nothing has to envy the great Sergei Bubka. They all ran to hug him, as they usually celebrate as their own the milestones of a type that is as normal as it is exceptional.
Let's claim the value of normality!
(...)
We relive those same scenes on Saturday night, in Clermont-Ferrand (France), the theater of the All-Star, a peculiar contest dedicated to the pole vault.
Narrémoslo.
Night has fallen on the city but not a soul stirs in the effervescent Clermont-Ferrand Sports Hall. Packed together and excited, five thousand souls watch as Duplantis and Renaud Lavillenie discuss the attack on the world record. To date, Duplantis has surpassed himself five times: five times he has broken the world record. From 6.17m, he has been raising it cm by cm up to 6.21.
Lavillenie has organized the event.
Lavillenie is 36 years old and is retired as a pole vaulter. But at another time, between 2014 and 2020, he had been the best of all time (6.16m). His figure has served as a bridge between the times of Bubka and those of Duplantis.
At that time, Duplantis has already been awarded the test. He has marked 6.01m, more than any of his opponents, and then he has asked Lavillenie to raise the bar by 21 centimeters, up to the world record, but he has failed in his first two flights.
The public in the stands and the pole vaulters on the bench contemplate a scene that seems everyday, due to its abundance: Duplantis is used to giving away unique moments.
Duplantis finally starts and flies over 6.22m – there is a margin there – and, as he falls, Lavillenie pounces on him: they both hug each other on the mat, shout.
And the chronicler only regrets one detail: the Swede will not be at the European Indoor in Istanbul next weekend.
