"My legs felt terrible tonight"- Mondo Duplantis weighs in on being unable to break the world record at the Brussels Diamond League finals

By Soumik Bhattacharya

Modified Sep 14, 2024 06:10 GMT

2024 Paris Olympics gold medalist, Mondo Duplantis has reflected on his performance at the 2024 Diamond League finals after failing to break the world record in the meet. This comes after his top-podium finish in the Men's pole vault event on Friday, September 13.

The Swedish pole vaulter registered a mark of 6.11m to win the event and conclude the Diamond League finals as the only athlete to touch the 6m mark. Besides, Duplantis also set a new meet record with his performance, overtaking the previous record (also held by him) of 6.10m by 0.01m.

Despite his impressive performance in the finals, Duplantis was not quite content on a personal note. During the post-match interview, he claimed he was disappointed after failing to break the world record (6.26m) in the meet. Duplantis also revealed that his previous outings in Zurich, especially the race against Karsten Warholm, took an immense toll on his body.

Duplantis further mentioned that with the 2024 track and field season almost over, he is looking forward to drinking some Belgian Beers in Brussels. He said (via Wanda Diamond League):

"My legs felt terrible tonight and I'm just really tired. It's been a crazy couple of weeks: the race against Karsten and then I had to jump the day after. That took a lot more from my body than I expected. With 6m11 I got a good result, but the world record wasn't meant to be tonight. It's not easy to do better each time."

"Now it's time to celebrate my beautiful season: I will drink some good Belgian beers tonight for sure," Duplantis added.

While Mondo Duplantis' Greek counterpart Emmanouil Karalis finished second during the finals, registering a mark of 5.82m, Belgium pole vaulter Ben Brothers clinched the third position after setting his season-best performance with 5.82m.

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Mondo Duplantis remains undefeated in the 2024 track and field season

Mondo Duplantis at the 2024 Diamond League finals in Brussels (Image via Getty Images)

With the Diamond League finals concluded for Mondo Duplantis, it led to the end of a terrific 2024 track and field season for the Swedish pole vaulter. The season saw Duplantis go undefeated across all the tournaments he competed in, another silver lining for the 24-year-old.

The season also saw Duplantis clinch global championships such as the Indoor World Championship title for the second time in his career. Besides, he won his second successive gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

Duplantis also registered eight Diamond League victories across the season, including the finals in Brussels.