Pole vault king Duplantis rules supreme

World and Olympic champion sets European record of 6.06m to retain title in Munich

MUNICH:

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. This championship feels special to me."

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.