Phone call saves Duplantis

TOKYO – Pole vault world record-holder Armand Duplantis on Saturday revealed how fate intervened to help him avoid a potentially ruinous meeting with COVID-positive rival Sam Kendricks at the Tokyo Olympics.

Duplantis, speaking after he sailed through qualification into the final, said he was “freaked out” by Kendricks’ positive test, and that he only missed a coffee appointment with the American because a conversation with his girlfriend overran.

Two-time world champion Kendricks and Argentina’s German Chiaraviglio were both withdrawn from the Games after testing positive.

“I was going to meet with him in the Olympic Village and have a coffee but I was speaking to my girlfriend for too long and missed it. So it’s thanks to her that we weren’t together,” he said.