Duplantis invincible; Biles exits with silver

MANILA, Philippines — Armand Duplantis fulfilled a childhood dream as he broke his own pole vault world record in retaining his Olympic crown on Monday but Simone Biles showed she is human after all.

The day after US sprinter Noah Lyles blasted his way into the record books with the narrowest of wins in the men’s 100m, a pulsating Stade de France witnessed another historic evening of track and field action.

Not for the first time, the night belonged to the invincible Duplantis.

The US-born Swedish great was the sole vaulter to go beyond the six-meter mark, leaving American Sam Kendricks trailing in a distant silver, with Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis in bronze.

After securing gold again, it was then a case of how high the 24-year-old Duplantis could go.

He set a record of 6.24m in April but with the Stade de France holding its breath, he bettered that on his third and final attempt at 6.25m before milking the deafening applause of the crowd.

“What can I say? I just broke a world record at the Olympics, the biggest possible stage for a pole vaulter,” Duplantis said.

“The biggest dream since a kid was to break the world record at the Olympics and I’ve been able to do that in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of.”

Earlier in the day, all eyes were on Biles to see if she could write some more history of her own.

Widely considered the greatest gymnast in history, the American was bidding to add to her Paris haul of three golds in balance beam and floor finals at the Bercy Arena, in her final day of competition.

But the 27-year-old slipped off the beam while walking backwards in her routine, the unusual error gifting gold to Italy’s Alice D’Amato.

A furious Biles exited the arena to prepare for her floor exercise final, which also ended in heartbreak as two landing hiccups sent her into silver behind Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade.

“Today has been absolutely wild,” Biles said, adding that she was “actually very happy, proud and even more excited that it’s over.”

Biles ended her campaign in Paris with three golds and a silver, bringing her total Olympic haul to 11, seven of which are gold.

World Cup champion Germany reached the Olympic men’s