Tokyo nights have a way of feeling dramatic, but this one belonged to a single man with a pole in his hands and a stadium holding its breath. Armand “Mondo” Duplantis went over 6.30 metres on Sunday, missed twice, nailed it the third time, and in that single jump he pushed the world record higher again. Fourteen times he’s done it now. Fourteen.
The bar shook, wobbled, stayed up. The crowd’s roar told the rest of the story.
“I just had to trust myself,”
Duplantis said afterwards, almost casual, like he hadn’t just rewritten athletics history.
A Habit of Records
This wasn’t his first dance with history. Back in 2020, when he first cracked Renaud Lavillenie’s record with 6.17m in Poland, he looked like the sport’s future. A week later he jumped 6.18m, proving it wasn’t luck.
Since then, the numbers stack up almost absurdly: 6.20m in Belgrade (2022), 6.21m in Eugene the same year, 6.22m in France, 6.23m again in Eugene, 6.24m in Glasgow, 6.25, 6.26, 6.27… all the way up to 6.29 last month. Each one felt like a ceiling. Each one became a stepping stone.
Now 6.30m, on a damp track in Tokyo. See full record progression
Source: Wikipedia
The Competition Wasn’t the Competition
To be fair, there were medals being won too. Emmanouil Karalis of Greece cleared 6.00m for silver, Kurtis Marschall took bronze at 5.95m. Strong marks. On most nights they’d be headlines. But against Duplantis? They were background music.
He had already secured gold before the record attempt. The bar could have stayed at 6.10 and nobody would’ve complained. But that’s not how Duplantis operates. He wants to go higher, every time.
Source: Reuters
The Numbers Behind the Madness
Here’s the thing: six metres is supposed to be the holy grail. For most vaulters, it’s one magical clearance in a lifetime. Duplantis has done it over 80 times already. Sergey Bubka, the great pioneer, did it 44 times in his whole career.
That stat alone explains why Duplantis is different. He isn’t brushing up against the extraordinary once in a while, he lives there. His “normal” is everyone else’s dream mark.
Source: Olympics
Third Time, Right Time
It nearly slipped away. Two ugly misses at 6.30m had people muttering. Maybe tonight wasn’t the night. Maybe the long season had caught up with him. But then he steadied, breathed, and sprinted.
Pole bent, body lifted, bar rattled. For a moment, time froze. Then the bar held. “That was close,” he laughed later. “I don’t think I can afford too many more like that.”
That’s Duplantis in a nutshell. Perfection built on moments of chaos.
Pole Vault’s Unlikely Superstar
Pole vault used to be niche, tucked away behind the glamour of sprints and distance races. Duplantis has blown it open. Fans now show up just to watch him. TV cameras linger. Every run-up feels like a possible record.
He has turned the event into something bigger, into must-see sport. The Bolt effect, but with poles and crossbars instead of spikes and straightaways.
How High Is High Enough?
At 25, Duplantis is still climbing. Athletes in this event often peak late, so who knows where the bar stops – 6.35? 6.40?
He shrugged when asked.
“I don’t think about limits. I just think about the next jump.”
Simple words, but after fourteen world records, they carry weight.
The Takeaway
So here we are again. Another city, another stunned crowd, another centimetre higher. Fourteen times in five years he’s moved the mark. And if you watched him walk off the Tokyo runway smiling, you had the sense this wasn’t the finish line.
It was just another checkpoint.
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Sagnik Banerjee
[…] Mondo Duplantis Defies Gravity Again – 14th Pole Vault World Record! […]