MONDO DUPLANTIS BREAKS THE POLE VAULT WORLD RECORD WITH 6.24M

Sun 21 April 2024:

Armand “Mondo” Duplantis on Saturday broke the pole vault world record at Diamond League competition in Xiamen, China.

The reigning world and Olympic champion cleared 6.24 meters to break the record for the eighth time in his career.

The 24-year-old previously cleared heights of 5.62m, 5.82m, 6.00m, and, last September, finally cleared the previous world record of 6.23m in the Diamond League Final in Eugene, Oregon, in the US Pacific Northwest.

“For me to jump a world record I need everything to be in the right place,” said Duplantis, hailing no winds and great energy from the crowd.

“Everything added up to what I needed for me to jump high today.

“It definitely felt like it was within reach after that 6.00m attempt,” he said, adding that it made up for what he called a “sloppy” indoor season – albeit one in which he retained his world indoor title in Glasgow last month with a 6.05m clearance.

“I obviously had some fire in me today, I really wanted to show myself that I could do better than I did then.”

American Sam Hendricks, who finished second with a best of 5.82m, a massive 42 centimetres adrift, said Duplantis has got “God’s hand on his back”.

“I’ve been a champion before, Mondo has been my vice-champion. I’ve seen him from a 14-year-old come all the way up and it makes me actually ever joyous to be even just second place behind the world record holder because I know he works so darned hard, he goes all over the place and he’s becoming the true champion we all want him to be.”

Duplantis this March also successfully defended his indoor world championship title.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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