Duplantis seals 14th world record & third world title

History-maker Armand Duplantis soared to his 14th world record with his final attempt as the Swedish superstar continued his pole vault domination by winning a third consecutive world title.

A captivated audience in Tokyo remained in the stadium long after Monday night’s other events had concluded to watch the sport’s modern-day great become the first human to clear the 6.30m barrier.

The 25-year-old has now claimed the past eight global men’s pole vault gold medals on offer across both indoor and outdoor competitions following this triumph in the Japanese capital.

The two-time Olympic champion sealed gold with a first-time clearance at 6.15m to end Emmanouil Karalis’ admirable challenge then raised the bar to one centimetre higher than he had ever gone before.

Such is the respect from his competitors, the Greek runner-up – who has risen to fourth on the discipline’s all-time list amid his pursuit of Duplantis – held a fan for his rival between his agonisingly close first and second attempts.

With all eyes fixed upon him, a hush of expectation was replaced by rhythmic applause upon Duplantis’ request as he prepared for his final attempt.

Japan’s National Stadium then erupted as he leapt up from the mat after his successful effort and began his celebrations.

“It’s better than I could have imagined. To give you guys this world record is amazing. I’m just so happy,” Duplantis told the crowd, who had stayed beyond 23:00 local time to watch him seek the record.

Duplantis, widely known by his nickname ‘Mondo’, made clear his intentions upon reaching the final. While he knew he had work to do to capture the gold, the world record was “on the cards” in the showpiece.

Everybody else had already made that assumption.

World record talk has replaced any discussion of the destination of men’s pole vault gold medals since he first succeeded Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie as the world record holder by clearing 6.17m in February 2020.

And, with World Athletics offering a $100,000 world record bonus, on top of the $70,000 awarded to gold medallists at the championship, there was no lack of motivation to deliver in front of another expectant global audience.

Duplantis has already won every major gold available to him, while last year he became the first man to retain the Olympic pole vault title for 68 years at Paris 2024.

Duplantis surpassed a record-extending 100 career clearances over six metres in winning his third world indoor title in March.

For context, it is a height that has been cleared by just 28 other people throughout history.

Duplantis’ closest challenger this season has been Karalis, who despite improving his personal best to 6.08m, trails 22 centimetres behind.

Victory in Japan extends his unbeaten streak to 37 competitions, stretching back to July 2023.

The US-born Swede, who chose to represent his mother’s homeland, has not lost a major final since Doha in 2019, where as a teenager he missed out to American Sam Kendricks on countback.

How has he done it? A potent combination of lightning runway speed, technical precision in the take-off, explosive power and the bravery to embrace it as he travels far beyond the average height of a giraffe (5.5m).

His incremental centimetre-by-centimetre approach to improving the world record is by no means revolutionary; since Sergey Bubka became the first person to clear six metres 40 years ago, the record has been nudged no more than two centimetres higher at a time.

It helped that Duplantis grew up with a pole vault pit in the back garden of his childhood home in Louisiana, with his father Greg a former elite at the discipline.

That upbringing has also inspired his younger sister Johanna to pursue a future in the sport, the 22-year-old turning professional earlier this year, and Duplantis is still coached by his parents.

The record-breaking dominance he has gone on to achieve has transcended the sport and established Duplantis as the sport’s biggest star.

With more than two million followers across his social media accounts, he has been at the forefront of promoting World Athletics’ new global event, the Ultimate Championship.