Eugene. After an athletics tournament where Sweden’s top places finished fourth and fifth, I’m hungry for medals.
So give me a wonderful Sunday.
Only Mundo Duplantis and Khaddi Sagnia can save Kajsa Bergqvist’s first major outdoor tournament.
Yes, it will be a strong Swedish last day in this water cycle, as it is already possible to count on Swedish gold during the last hour of the cycle.
Mundo’s qualifying performance was so impressive that opponents lost all hope.
Now if they have something from the beginning.
Even though the bar was 5.75 at its highest, Mondo still jumped six metres.
There was plenty of air to be enough for an entire diving team.
A completely new standard
Whatever the bar, it seems Mondo can’t jump any more these days.
It has set a whole new standard.
I know Mundo told his friends back home in Sweden that they don’t have to get up at 3:30 tonight as the pole vault starts Swedish time here in Eugene.
They can wait an hour or so.
He’s showing confidence that he knows roughly how long he’ll have to wait to get into the competition seriously.
You can promise it, without risking anything
And while I know it’s dangerous to take a few golds or victories for granted, I don’t feel anxious in Mondo’s case.
I can promise to eat the shoes of an entire Nike store without risking anything.
The opposition knows they are fighting for the silver and I’ve sat in enough press conferences in recent years to understand that world number two pole vaulter Chris Nielsen is more than happy to take second place.
This is the highest he can go.
It could be a new world record
What I cared about the most before this final was the weather.
Now it will be 30 degrees and a weak north wind, which means a tailwind on the approach.
Then it could be a new world record, although his highest jump in an outdoor mondo is still his 6.16 from the Bauhaus Gala just over three weeks ago.
But now it is in great shape.
world record format?
absolute.
So the question is not whether he will win, but how far he will jump.
As usual.
So we have Take Sanneh.
The girl who does everything that amazes her, but does not make it to the outdoor finals.
Her best result is still seventh in her first WC in Beijing 2015.
Then she jumped exactly 6.78 which now takes her to the final straight here in Eugene, where the qualifying limit was 6.75.
It won’t surprise me
I’ve followed my cheeks all along and nothing surprises me anymore.
Not even if she won a gold medal.
She has the ability to fly as much as she wants and I’ve been waiting ten years to become the first Swede to cross the seven-meter dream limit.
I am still waiting.
But conditions were never better at the tournament, as this year she ranked third in the world among the girls who reached the World Cup final.
She is world number one Brooke Buschkuehl of Australia who jumped 7.13 this year and German Malaika Mihambo with 7.09.
My cheek also has two American women ahead of him in the annual stats, but both have already disappeared into the WC American picks.
Tara Davis who jumped 7.03 and Mooney Nichols (6.97) both failed to be among the three to make a place in the restroom.
Pathological withdrawal system?
Yes, it’s just a first name.
Khadi also had her personal best result here in Eugene, scoring 6.95 when she won the Diamond League title in late May.
It could be a nightmare.
But the Swedish Grand Sunday already started at dawn local time as Perseus Karlstrom won another World Cup bronze.
And even if his results are not counted in the official statistics of the Swedish Athletics Federation, they are counted in the total medal standings of the World Cup.
This means Sweden will take a real leap up, especially if there are two new medals tonight.
Kajsa Bergqvist may be keeping her fingers crossed in today’s Swedish closing events.
If she stood there with Mundo’s gold as her only medal, this year’s water course would be as close as possible to a Swedish failure.
Who thought that?
