Mondo Duplantis breaks second world record in one week
After clearing 6.17m to set a new world record in Torun, Poland last week, Duplantis has doubled down clearing 6.18m in Glasgow
Athletics
Mondo Duplantis has reset the pole vault world record to 6.18m, one centimetre higher than his own record set seven days ago in Poland.
The 20-year-old's 6.17m jump last week felled a world record that stood for six years, and it took him just a week to surpass his own mark this time around.
The Swede wowed the world once more at the Indoor Grand Prix Glasgow, part of the World Athletics Indoor Tour, giving another inkling that this pole vault prodigy is set to usher in another golden age in his sport.
Up until last Saturday, Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie was the world record holder at 6.16 meters, set indoors in 2014, while storied vaulter Sergey Bubka still holds the highest outdoor mark of 6.14.
This latest record-breaking leap by the Swede is another strong statement less than five months out from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games this summer.
"This was such a great competition, there was such great energy the crowd was giving me and I really thrive off that." - Duplantis to World Athletics
A class of his own
The Swedish vaulter carried his form over from Poland last week, opening flawlessly on 5.50m before getting over 5.75m on his second try.
Trailing two-time world champion Sam Kendricks at that point, the battle between the top two didn't last very long as Kendricks crashed out at the next height, 5.84m.
Duplantis coasted over on his first attempt to guarantee the win and with no-one else to compete against but himself, the super Swede aced a 6.00m leap to set a UK indoor all-comers’ record.
But the manner in which he went over suggested that there was more to come, and so it was.
He ordered the bar up to 6.18m sending a surge of expectation through the crowd.
One attempt was all he needed, setting his second world record in a week.
“I felt like I was over it and once I was going over I knew I had it,” he explained later, “you can’t tell how far away you are from the bar but it felt like a good jump from the get-go. I tried a stiffer pole and it worked out.
“It’s the best little split second. Everything builds up to that little split second and the freefall was magical."
“It's unfair to think I'll break it every time I compete” - Duplantis
But how does he feel about the new expectation that he'll break a record at every competition?
“It's unfair to think I'll break it every time I compete,” said Duplantis afterwards.
“I don't think about it too much. You don't need to break a record to win every comp. Winning is always the goal, then if I have the energy left I’ll crank it up a bit.”
The scary part for his fellow competitors watching on was the distance between him and the bar at this world record 6.18m height.
There is still so much more to come from this star on an unstoppable rise.
High flier
Born 'Armand Duplantis' in Louisiana to an American father and a Swedish mother, dual-citizen 'Mondo' chose to represent Sweden.
He is coached by his father, Greg, who finished fifth in the 1996 U.S. Olympic Trials pole vault, and his mother Helena Hedlund who competed as a Swedish heptathlete in the past.
Duplantis picked up a cheque for $30,000 for this latest world record jump.