TOKYO – Mondo Duplantis lit up the third night of the Tokyo world championships when he broke the pole vault world record for the 14th time with a jump of 6.30 metres after securing a third straight world title.
The gold medal was already in the bag and all the other events finished when the American-born Swede had the bar raised a centimetre higher than the record height of 6.29m he managed in Budapest last month.
He failed by the narrowest of margins at his first two attempts but, roared on by a packed house at the National Stadium, slid over on the third with the bar giving a slight wobble before settling.
The stadium exploded as the 25-year-old raced over to celebrate with his family in the crowd before being mobbed by his delighted rivals.
“I am so happy, I cannot explain it,” Duplantis said. “For the past two weeks I really enjoyed being in Tokyo. I have been enjoying everything so much. I felt the only way to leave Japan was to set the world record.
“That was my mentality. I don’t know what is next for me at this moment, I don’t care. I will just enjoy this right now.”
The atmosphere was a stark contrast with the scenes at the same arena four years ago when Duplantis won the first of his two Olympic titles with the Tokyo public locked out because of the COVID pandemic.
Seven of the 12 vaulters cleared 5.90m in an unusually strong competition but the contest, such as it was, soon came down to Duplantis and Greek Emmanouil Karalis.
Karalis, bronze medallist behind Duplantis at the Paris Olympics, secured the silver medal with a jump of 6.00m but failed at 6.10m, 6.15m and 6.20m as he tried to put some pressure on the reigning champion.
Duplantis sailed over at 6.10m and 6.15m and then gave the crowd and athletics world what it wanted with his fourth world record jump of the season.
“I was feeling really good the whole day,” Duplantis added. “I knew I had the record in me. If I have the right runway, I know that everything is possible.
“The run says it all, everything is about speed. As long as I have that right, I know it will work out for me.”
Australian Kurtis Marschall matched his personal best with a jump of 5.95m to win a second world bronze medal after sharing third place with American Chris Nilsen in Budapest two years ago.
“It was an amazing night, the fans were fantastic,” he said. “Mondo is from another planet. He is doing incredible things, things many people thought were impossible.
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