The Japan Times - Let me entertain you, says Duplantis

The Swede is back in France six months after he retained his Olympic title in world record-breaking fashion in Paris to compete in the "All Star Perche" event, solely dedicated to pole vault, in Clermont Ferrand.

Track and field is fighting to attract a younger audience outside of the Olympics and world championships and 2025 will see a new event, the Grand Slam Track series of four meetings devised by former Olympic sprint champion Michael Johnson.

Duplantis though will not be involved -- the meetings don't include field events.

Some field event specialists see that as a snub, but Duplantis told AFP he was fascinated to see how it works out.

"I think it's interesting. I don't think he (Johnson) necessarily owes anybody anything," the 25-year-old said.

"So I think that he has the right to try out what he thinks is best. And so, you know, it will be interesting to see how everything turns out.

"You have to entertain people at the end of the day. And you have to get people to watch."

- 'Make it a show' -

After his Olympic triumph, Duplantis created more buzz with a much-hyped exhibition 100 metres race against Warholm, the 400m hurdles world record holder.

Duplantis won and his time of 10.37sec on a chilly night in Zurich was more than respectable.

"I think it was fun. It was a huge success, and it made a huge impact, more than I think we could have even expected," he said.

"Maybe it said something. I don't really know exactly what it is and what should be the way, but I think that sometimes it needs to be entertaining.

"I think that that's maybe the important message of it, to where you really try to make it a show rather than being such a stiff competition.

"Because if you look at the successful sports, it really is usually like a show. So I think that it's a good blueprint to go off of."

For now though, the man who has broken the word record a remarkable 10 times is focusing on pushing his current mark of 6.26 metres towards 6.30m.

"That would be great. That's kind of the goal," he said.

"I feel I can do it. Of course, things have to come together and I need to have a consecutive string of meets that just happen the way that I need them to and for me to be able to break the world record.

"But I think it's possible."

And he brushed off suggestions his dominance could dilute his enthusiasm for pole vault.

"You don't lose motivation once you accomplish things. You gain more motivation in a way when you taste a little bit of success, and whenever you become really good at something, it just becomes more and more fun."

T.Ueda--JT