Discus thrower Allman and pole vaulter Kendricks win Olympic medals moments apart for the US

SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — Sam Kendricks appreciates the Olympics again. Valarie Allman never stopped.

It’s just the healing power that medals have to mend and reinforce feelings.

In a short span Monday night, Allman won her second straight Olympic title in the discus throw, while Kendricks captured silver in a pole vault competition that featured Sweden’s Armand “Mondo” Duplantis breaking his own world record.

The medals from Allman and Kendricks, 31, gave the U.S. 11 so far in the meet, including three golds.

Three years ago in Tokyo, Kendricks didn’t get the chance to compete. He was placed in isolation because of a positive COVID-19 test and didn’t feel supported by Olympic officials.

It led to some pretty hard feelings — feelings that had the Mississippi native wondering if he even wanted to compete in Paris.

His love-loathe relationship is back on path to love after he earned a silver medal. It pairs with the bronze he captured at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games.

“I was definitely bitter,” Kendricks said. “I wasn’t going to come to Paris until it was proven to me that it was going to be great and shining into the future.

“It’s tough, being turned away from. All of a sudden you’re sick, and every doctor throws you to the wolves, and all of a sudden you’re stuck in isolation when Team USA is supposed to love you.”

It took some soul-searching for him to arrive in Paris for another Olympics.

“Rather than run away from it like I really wanted to, you’ve got to come back,” Kendricks said. “You’ve got to face that lion.”

Kendricks went up against a pole-vaulting beast in Duplantis, the 24-year-old from Louisiana who competes for his mother’s native Sweden. Kendricks watched the journey up close of Duplantis blossoming into the world’s best. It culminated Monday with Duplantis clearing 6.25 meters (20 feet, 6 inches) to defend his gold medal.

“His story is written in the stars, for sure,” said Kendricks, who cleared 5.95 meters (19-6 1/4) to hold off Emmanouil Karalis of Greece. “But I think mine will have a tapestry hanging on my wall one day worthy of reading.”

Same with Allman’s tale. After winning in Tokyo, the 29-year-old who competed for Stanford realized she needed to dial back on the discus training. It had become her sole focus in and out of the global pandemic.

“I think I might be the only person in the world that probably had too much discus in their life,” Allman joked. “When you want to be as good as you can at something, you slowly start making sacrifices, and you don’t realize that it’s happening.”

To scale back, she bought a house and hung out with friends.

“Such basic things,” Allman said. “When I went out to perform, I said that no matter how it played out, I’m so grateful that I get to do what I love. No matter if I get a medal, whatever color it is, if I don’t get a medal, this is going to be a night that I’m proud of the fight that I showed. I think there was something freeing in that.”

Early on, Allman showed some jitters by fouling on her first attempt.

“I felt the weight of like, ‘Holy crap, this is the Olympics,’” Allman explained. “It took me a minute to find my groove.”

She went 68.74 meters (225-6) on her second throw and 69.50 (228-0) on her fourth. It was enough to beat Feng Bin of China and Sandra Elkasevic of Croatia.

“Pressure is becoming my friend,” Allman said. “I think it’s one of those things I’ve learned can bring out the best in you if you embrace it.

“To walk into the ring having one attempt left and knowing I’d already won, it was hard fighting back tears.”