World Athletics Championships: Sky is the limit for Duplantis as he breaks another world record en route to Tokyo gold

The last time that Duplantis competed in this arena, he won his first Olympic gold medal with 6.02m, in front of empty grandstands during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mondo Duplantis broke the pole vault world record for the 14th time with a jump of 6.30M en rote to clinching the gold medal in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo.

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.

“It’s better than I could have imagined,” he told the crowd afterwards. “To give you guys this world record is amazing.”

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.

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.

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.

The last time that Duplantis competed in this arena, four years ago, he won his first Olympic gold medal with 6.02m, in front of empty grandstands during the Covid-19 pandemic.

At that stage, his personal best was 6.10m. Since then, he has taken the pole vault into the stratosphere, lifting the world record from 6.16m to 6.30m. This year alone he has improved the benchmark four times, to 6.27m indoors in France in February, 6.28m in his hometown Stockholm at the Diamond League meeting, and 6.29m in Budapest last month before his Tokyo heroics.

(with agencies/World Athletics Media inputs)