Mondo Duplantis Is BEATEN at 2019 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Champs, Chris Nilsen Wins By Breaking His Own Meet Record
By LetsRun.com
June 5, 2019
AUSTIN, Tex. — LSU’s Mondo Duplantis, the European champion, NCAA record holder, and second-highest pole vaulter in outdoor track and field history, was beaten today as the 2019 NCAA Track and Field Championships got underway. The 19-year-old Duplantis didn’t jump horribly — he cleared 5.80m (19-¼), a bar that only five men in the entire world have cleared this year — but he wasn’t the winner.
Instead, the win went to South Dakota’s Chris Nilsen, the #2 pole vaulter in the world this year (5.85m vs. Duplantis’s 6.00m), who twice broke his own meet record of 5.83m with first-attempt clearances at 5.90 (19-4¼) and 5.95m (19-6¼) to win his third NCAA title. Both of those were personal bests for Nilsen, who entered the meet with a pb of 5.86. With victory in hand, Nilsen took three attempts at 6.01m, which would have surpassed the 6.00m collegiate record that Duplantis set at the SEC meet earlier this year, but Nilsen failed on all three.
TITLE DEFENDED!!! ?
South Dakota's Chris Nilsen reclaims his #ncaaTF title in the pole vault with a Personal Best and Meet record 1️⃣9️⃣↔️6️⃣¼. pic.twitter.com/clhXf8MOwT
— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) June 6, 2019
In other field event action, Mississippi State’s Anderson Peters twice broke his own meet record in the javelin, winning with an 86.62m (284-2) throw as Mississippi State went 1-2-3 in the event.
Talk about the pole vault upset on our world famous messageboard/fan forum:
MB: Are you kidding me? MONDO BEATEN at NCAAs.
Records on Records…#JavU's Anderson Peters defends his #ncaaTF title besting is own Meet record TWICE with a winning throw of 2️⃣8️⃣4️⃣↔️2️⃣.
Teammates Curtis Thompson and Tyriq Horsford scored at 2nd & 3rd…gaining 2️⃣4️⃣points from the event. pic.twitter.com/7AfWb8Ok40
— NCAA Track & Field (@NCAATrackField) June 6, 2019
*Pole Vault Results (Full series)
