Athletics giant Armand Duplantis suffered his first defeat in three years in Stockholm of all places – and of all places it came just a few days before one of the biggest and most important moments of his life. According to him, that was exactly the cause.
The unbeatable one is defeated. In his own “living room”. The sensational defeat of pole vault GOAT Armand Duplantis at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm caused a stir on Sunday. The exceptional Swedish athlete was undefeated for three years and 40 competitions in a row. Of all people, he made a mistake in front of “his” fans. How could this happen?
According to Duplantis himself, there is a simple explanation for his rare slip-up: he simply has other things on his mind at the moment. What’s behind it: He’s celebrating his wedding in the Swedish capital next weekend. He and his future wife Desiré have been very busy in the last few days, entertaining dozens of friends who have traveled from the USA.
“I don’t know why he’s even here.”
“I’m a little sorry for everyone who came here and wanted to see something big. But I would be lying if I said I was angry about the whole thing. I’m neither angry nor disappointed and 99 percent of it has something to do with my wedding,” the 26-year-old gave an understandable reason for his failure. He has “more important things in life” right now.
He had a lot on his mind in the last few days, added “Mondo”, who kept large parts of the wedding party on their toes. “I didn’t want to not have fun with them and show them Stockholm. Some of them have never been here before,” Duplantis admitted that his full focus in the week before the competition was his wedding and his friends.
Sam Kendricks, the Swede’s long-time rival, showed maximum understanding for this. “I don’t know why he’s here at all. He’s getting married next week. He has 30 family members in town and goes out every night. He won’t admit it himself, but he’s having a really hard time right now,” joked the American.
Duplantis was also quick to joke again after the competition. He reported that some of his friends were thrown out of a club on Saturday. This is nothing unusual in Stockholm, he said: “But I don’t want them here during competitions anymore. To be honest, they can stay in Louisiana.”