Mondo Duplantis, Sweden’s Olympic Champion Pole Vaulter, Smashes His Own World Record

Belgrade, March 8: Sweden's Olympic pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis cleared 6.19m to smash his own world record by one centimetre on Monday at the World Indoor Tour Silver meeting in Belgrade.

The 22-year-old Swedish vaulter had attempted that height on numerous occasions over the past two years, and had come close to clearing it several times this indoor season. World Athletics Awards 2020: Mondo Duplantis and Yulimar Rojas Named World Athletes of the Year.

But, returning to the venue where he cleared a world-leading 6.10m last year, Duplantis finally nailed it. He opened his series with a first-time clearance of 5.61m, with all of his opponents having exited earlier in the competition. He then got over 5.85m and 6.00m on his first tries.

He had the bar raised to 6.19m and missed his first two tries. On his third and final try, he gave the bar a slight nudge with his knees but it remained in place, then he leapt up from the landing mat and punched the air in celebration.

This is the fourth world record of 22-year-old Duplantis's career. His first came in February 2020 when he surpassed London 2012 gold medallist Renaud Lavillenie's world record by clearing 6.17m in Torun, Poland before improving that the following week in Glasgow.

In September of that year, he cleared 6.15m at the Rome Diamond League meeting to eclipse Sergey Bubka's outdoor pole vault world best of 6.14m set in Sestriere in July 1994.

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