The best pole vaulter of all time has done it again. Just 20 days after winning Olympic gold and setting a new world record along the way, Armand Duplantis has literally raised the bar once more.
At the Silesia Diamond League meeting in the Polish city of Chorzów on Sunday, Duplantis jumped an unprecedented 6.26 meters — 1 centimeter higher than his widely-celebrated 6.25-meter world record at the Paris Olympics earlier this month. The jump marks the 10th straight time “Mondo” has set a new pole vault mark.
Duplantis, who was born in Louisiana but competes for Sweden, first broke the world record in February 2020 with a 6.17-meter jump. Over the next four-and-a-half years, he added one centimeter each on nine different occasions.
There is no telling where the journey will go, but Sunday’s competition might not be the end of the road for one of the most dominant athletes of his generation.
While the 24-year-old stole the show yet again, he was far from the only standout performer on Sunday. In fact, two other pole vaulters — USA’s Sam Kendricks and Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis — also cleared the 6-meter mark in what was arguably the highest-level event in the sport’s history.
“The victory means a lot,” Duplantis said afterwards. “First competition ever with three guys over 6 meters. I think that’s really amazing for pole vaulting, and I think that that shows where the sport is going. And it’s really developing in such a good way. I love that for Emmanouil, I love that for Sam. I just think pole vault’s in a really good spot right now.”
Obviously, Duplantis himself is a main reason for that.
