Athletics-Duplantis keeps focus on Olympic gold

Pole-vault world record holder Armand Duplantis is focused on Olympic gold at this year's Games in Paris and a new world record would be a bonus, he said on Wednesday, as he prepares to compete at this month's Diamond League meeting in China.

Pole-vault world record holder Armand Duplantis is focused on Olympic gold at this year's Games in Paris and a new world record would be a bonus, he said on Wednesday, as he prepares to compete at this month's Diamond League meeting in China. Duplantis broke his own world record last year with a leap of 6.23 metres.

"There's a lot of things that have to add up and be perfect for me to break a world record, and a lot of things that are also out of my control, as far as conditions - you need still winds, and warm weather," Duplantis said in an interview with Reuters on Wednesday. "The most important thing going into the Olympics is always to win and to secure the gold medal, and if I'm able to do that then I will look onwards after that, but right now you have more of the focus on making sure you get the job done first before biting off more than you can chew," he added.

The 24-year-old Swede said he prepares psychologically by sticking to his routine. "Just try to trust the process, trust the training and trust that everything is where it should be, and hopefully it will be at that time when it's the Olympic time," he said, adding: "Of course it's going to be a little more tough sleeping because you're going to be a bit more anxious."

Athletes will have more free rein to post their wins and thank sponsors on social media during this year's Games, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) plans to relax rules governing online marketing in a pilot project with the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry, which the two organisations say will benefit athletes' personal brands. "Of course, social media is huge for any athlete nowadays, it's where you can have the biggest reach to people," said Duplantis, who has 547,000 followers on his Instagram account.

"For me being a pole vaulter, I think it's a great thing for a little bit more of a niche sport, to try to reach as many people as possible, and for people to see and hopefully more people will try it."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)