Mondo Duplantis had the crowd at the Stade de France roaring their enthusiasm on Monday night as he notched his pole vault world record up one centimetre at the Paris Olympics, jumping 6.25 metres on his third attempt. It was the second world record of the Games; the first was set on the track by Team USA in the mixed 4x400m relay on Friday.
Swedish star Mondo Duplantis soared 6.25m to set the 9th world pole vault record of his career and cap a gold medal-winning performance at @Paris2024 👏#Paris2024 FLASH ⬇️
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) August 5, 2024
The world record was the icing on the cake for Duplantis, who already had the gold medal locked up when he decided to go for the record, having cleared 6.10 metres (an Olympic record) on his first try. Team USA’s Sam Kendricks took silver with a season’s best jump of 5.95 metres, and Emmanouil Karalis of Greece took home the bronze medal, with 5.90 metres, marking Greeces first medal in the pole vault since 1956.
“I hope Sweden is proud of me,” said Duplantis. ” There were so many Swedes in the stadium of 77,000 tonight and I wanted to represent. It’s been more amazing than I ever could have imagined.”
Duplantis paid tribute to the Turkish Olympic shooter Yusef Dikec on his celebration, as a dare from Australian polev aulter Kurtis Marshall ” I wanted to do something silly,” said Duplantis.
It was the second time this year that he’s set a new world record; he cleared 6.24 for the first time at Shanghai Diamond League on April 20.
Duplantis, 24, also holds the indoor world record (at 6.22m), won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and is the two-time world champion, both outdoors and indoors. He is the greatest pole vaulter in the history of the sport, and a wildly popular performer at major Games and Diamond League events.
Athletics events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are taking place from Aug. 1-11. Today’s coverage is brought to you by Canadian Running and New Balance Canada. Follow us on Twitter on Instagram for all things Team Canada and up-to-date exclusive news and content.
