By Our Reporter,The Nation
Copyright thenationonlineng
History-maker Armand Duplantis soared to his 14th world record with his final attempt as the Swedish superstar continued his pole vault domination by winning a third consecutive world title.
A captivated audience in Tokyo remained in the stadium long after Monday night’s other events had concluded to watch the sport’s modern-day great become the first human to clear the 6.30m barrier.
The 25-year-old has now claimed the past eight global men’s pole vault gold medals on offer across both indoor and outdoor competitions following this triumph in the Japanese capital.
Returning to the stadium where he achieved the first of those major successes four years ago, Duplantis owned his latest moment in the spotlight with his charisma and breath-taking talent.
The two-time Olympic champion sealed gold with a first-time clearance at 6.15m to end Emmanouil Karalis’ admirable challenge – and then raised the bar to one centimetre higher than he had ever gone before.
Such is the respect from his competitors, the Greek runner-up – who has risen to fourth on the discipline’s all-time list amid his pursuit of Duplantis – held a fan for his rival between his agonisingly close first and second attempts.
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With all eyes fixed upon him, a hush of expectation was replaced by rhythmic applause upon Duplantis’ request as he prepared for his final attempt.
Japan’s National Stadium then erupted as he leapt up from the mat after his successful effort and began his celebrations.
“It’s better than I could have imagined. To give you guys this world record is amazing. I’m just so happy,” Duplantis told the crowd, who had stayed beyond 23:00 local time to watch him seek the record.
A fourth world record of 2025 by Duplantis is the most number of times he has improved the mark during a single year in his career, which seemingly continues with no limit in sight.
Australia’s bronze medallist Kurtis Marschall: “It was an amazing night, the fans were fantastic.
“Mondo is from another planet – he is doing incredible things, things many people thought were impossible.
“I can’t wait to see what he’s got in the future.”
