No athlete has ever flown as high as Armand Duplantis. Hardly anyone even gets into the spheres in which the pole vaulter flies over the bar. Now the superstar improved his own world record again.
Pole vault star Armand Duplantis has broken his own world record again. The 23-year-old Olympic and world champion from Sweden crossed the 6.22 meter mark at a meeting in Clermont-Ferrand, France, on Saturday evening. "It's incredible, I don't know what to say," said "Mondo" Duplantis, according to the French media: "I don't even really remember the last few minutes or the last jump."
After he had attempted the height, which was one centimeter higher than his previous world record, at the Hallen-Istaf in Berlin, but failed, he succeeded this time on the third attempt. According to World Athletics, it is Duplantis' sixth world record. In February 2020 he replaced Renaud Lavillenie as the world record holder with 6.17 meters. And the Frenchman was the first to wish well: Lavillenie is the organizer of the meeting in Clermont-Ferrand and was an eyewitness to his successor's unbelievable success again.
Duplantis entered the competition at 5.71 m and jumped that height on the first attempt. He then jumped 5.81 m and managed 5.91 m in the second attempt. When he jumped 6.01 m in the first attempt, he had already won the competition: none of the other starters jumped a height greater than 5.91 meters. The rest of the evening was then the big world record show.
Duplantis is currently the only athlete who has the magical six-meter mark easily under control. At none of the past major events did any of the competitors jump more than 5.97 meters. At the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, a comparatively modest 6.02 meters was enough for the high-flyer, at the World Championships in Oregon he used the large stage for his last world record until the night of Clemont-Ferrand: the 6.21 meters were 28 centimeters above the Silver height of the American Christopher Nilsen. Duplantis has jumped over six meters a total of 60 times in his career so far.
