TRACK & FIELD
Images : Christian Petersen / World Athletics , Marta Gorczynska / World Athletics , Christel Saneh / World Athletics , Mattia Ozbot / World Athletics , Adam Klingeteg / Red Bull Content Pool
American , a national record for the Greek , and the first time that three men have cleared six metres in one competition – but the Swede used less jumps to attain the height and was therefore the winner .
As has become his custom , he then asked the officials to raise the bar and went after his own World Record , just as he has done at other meets , including the 2022 World Champs and 2024 Olympics . He cleared 6.26m on his second jump to claim his 10th World Record , adding yet another centimetre to the mark he established in Paris just three weeks earlier . ( Note that both of these marks must still be ratified by World Athletics .)
After his record-breaking jump , Duplantis said , “ The track here is wonderful , the conditions today were perfect , everything just came together to allow me to do this . I know a lot of people came here to see me jump , so I wanted to put in a good showing for them . This year I focused on the Olympics , and the records just came naturally because I was in good shape , so I am not surprised with the record today , but I am thankful . It is just about being in good shape and believing you can do it . I always want to jump as high as I possibly can , and to keep pushing . I have never hit a jump that felt absolutely perfect , so I always feel like I can do better .”
Outjumping the Rest
To understand just how outstanding Duplantis is , one needs to look at the record books . To date , a total of 29 men in the world have jumped six metres or higher in pole vault competition , but just three have gone higher than 6.10m . Of these , Duplantis is head and shoulders above the rest , with a best jump now a full 10cm higher than the next best jumper on the list , his great friend , mentor and previous World Recordholder , Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie .
1 6.26 Armand Duplantis ( Sweden ) 2024 2 6.16 Renaud Lavillenie ( France ) 2014 3 6.15 Sergey Bubka ( Ukraine ) 1993 4 6.07 KC Lightfoot ( USA ) 2023 5 6.06 Steven Hooker ( Australia ) 2009 5 6.06 Sam Kendricks ( USA ) 2019 6 6.05 Maxim Tarasov ( Russia ) 1999 6 6.05 Dmitri Markov ( Australia ) 2001 6 6.05 Christopher Nilsen ( USA ) 2002 7 6.04 Brad Walker ( USA ) 2008 8 6.03 Okkert Brits ( South Africa ) 1995 8 6.03 Jeff Hartwig ( USA ) 2000 8 6.03 Thiago Braz ( Brazil ) 2016 9 6.02 Rodion Gataullin ( Russia ) 1989 9 6.02 Piotr Lisek ( Poland ) 2019 10 6.01 Igor Trandenkov ( Russia ) 1996 10 6.01 Timothy Mack ( USA ) 2004 10 6.01 Yevgeniy Lukyanenko ( Russia ) 2008 10 6.01 Björn Otto ( Germany ) 2012
There are 19 men in the top 10 positions on the all-time performances list , which includes all jumpers who attained 6:01 or higher , and there are a further 10 jumpers who have cleared six metres . Third on the list is the legendary Sergey Bubka of Ukraine , who set 17 World Records in his illustrious career , but while he has more World Records to his name , Duplantis is widely regarded as the greatest pole vaulter of all time , given the unprecedented heights he has reached . ( Sidenote :
Mondo ’ s World Records
The Swede was born to fly … no wonder Red Bull is one of his sponsors !
In May 1984 , the legendary Sergey Bubka of Ukraine broke the World Record for the men ’ s pole vault for the first time , jumping 5.85 metres , and he would go on to set 17 World Records in total , steadily increasing the highest mark to 6.14m by July 1994 . That record stood for nearly 20 years , until Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie set a new World Record of 6.16m in February 2014 , and that record , in turn , stood for one week short of six years .
On 8 February 2020 , 19-year-old Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis raised the bar to 6.17m , followed a week later by another jump one centimetre higher . The COVID pandemic put a temporary halt to his progress , but when competition resumed , Duplantis soon posted another World Record of 6.19m in March 2022 , followed two weeks later by a 6.20m jump .
In July 2022 he jumped 6.21m at the World Champs in the USA , having already won the competition comfortably and then asking the officials to set the bar one centimetre higher than his then World Record , and he has repeated this at several meets , including the
From a South African perspective , Okkert Brits is still in the top 10 , currently sitting in tied eighth place on the all-time performance list with his 1995 best of 6.03m , which made him at that time the second-best jumper in history behind Bubka !)
In a recent film made by his sponsor Red Bull , Duplantis was asked about his motivation to keep pushing the bar higher , literally and figuratively , and he tells a story about his youth . “ It ’ s crazy . I can remember so many times being in my parents ’ backyard and visualising that bar being at the World Record and it ’ s the Olympic final . I think that specific moment , I ’ d visualised it thousands of times .” And at the rate this young man is vaulting , the odds are good that we will see him win mor global titles and set more World Records in coming years . It may even be in coming weeks !
On his way to a second Olympic Gold in Paris 2024
recent Olympics in Paris , where he had already won the competition with a 6.00m jump , then pushed the bar up to 6.25m for a ( still to be ratified ) new World mark . However , that mark stood for just three weeks , thanks to his 6.26m jump in Poland in late August , for his 10th World Record ( also still to be ratified ).
HEIGHT VENUE DATE 6.26 Chorzów , Poland 25 Aug 2024 6.25 Paris , France 5 Aug 2024 6.24 Xiamen , China 20 Apr 2024 6.23 Eugene , USA 17 Sep 2023
6.22 Clermont-Ferrand , France
25 Feb 2023
6.21 Eugene , USA 24 Jul 2022 6.20 Belgrade , Serbia 20 Mar 2022 6.19 Belgrade , Serbia 7 Mar 2022 6.18 Glasgow , Great Britain 15 Feb 2020 6.17 Toruń , Poland 8 Feb 2020
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