BERLIN, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Sweden's Armand Duplantis retained the men's pole vault title with a clean sheet and improved his own championships record by one centimeter at the 2022 European Championships in Munich on Saturday.

The 22-year-old world record holder, who had improved the world record to 6.21 meters at the Oregon World Championships last month, started the competition at 5.65m and went on to fly over 5.85m, both with his first attempts.

After clearing 5.90m to clinch the gold medal, Duplantis then leaped over 5.95m and bowed out with a winning mark of 6.06m, beating the championships record he set in Berlin in 2018 by one centimeter while conquering all heights with his first attempts.

Germany's Bo Kanda Lita Baehre finished second at 5.85m, while Norway's Pal Haugen Lillefosse took bronze at 5.75m.

The second championships record set on the penultimate day of the seven-day event came in the women's 3,000m steeplechase, as Albania's Luiza Gega clocked a winning time of 9 minutes 11.31 seconds to smash the previous record of 9:17.57 set by Russia's Yuliya Zaripova back in 2010.

As the last leg of the Dutch women's 4x400m relay team, Femke Bol surpassed Natalia Kaczmarek of Poland and Britain's Nicole Yeargin around the last bend and went on to wrap up the convincing victory in 3:20.87.

Poland finished second in 3:21.68, while the bronze went to Britain in 3:21.74.

It's the third gold medal collected by the in-form Bol in Munich this week after the 22-year-old Dutchwoman won the 400m event and renewed the championships record in the 400m hurdles final.

Greece's Antigoni Ntrismpioti also became a multiple winner in Munich on Saturday as the 38-year-old achieved a personal best of one hour, 29 minutes and three seconds to claim the women's 20km race walk title, adding to the 35km gold she notched on Tuesday. Enditem

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