With the sixth world record of his career, pole vault star Armand Duplantis once again amazed the athletics world and achieved the goal he had set for himself at the end of his indoor season.
The Olympic and world champion from Sweden flew over 6.22 meters in Clermont-Ferrand in France and improved his previous record from the outdoor world championships in Eugene last year by one centimeter.
In February 2020 he replaced Renaud Lavillenie as the world record holder at 6.17 meters – the Frenchman is the organizer of the Clermont-Ferrand meeting and fell into Duplantis’ arms as the first to congratulate him after the successful third attempt. “It’s incredible, I don’t know what to say,” said Duplantis, who was only called “Mondo”, according to the French media: “I don’t even really remember the last few minutes or the last jump.”
Duplantis focuses on outdoor World Cup
Two weeks ago in Berlin Duplantis had just failed at the record height, this time he made it on the third attempt. According to the World Athletics Federation, he has mastered a height of at least six meters for the 60th time – 14 times more than the legendary Sergej Bubka once managed. Duplantis learned from the Ukrainian how to gradually increase the record by one centimetre.
The biggest star in athletics at the moment will not be taking part in the European Indoor Championships next weekend in Istanbul. Planning is now fully focused on the outdoor world championships in Budapest at the end of August.
