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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 breathtaking 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.
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.”
A $100,000 incentive – but how high can he go?
Duplantis, widely known by his nickname ‘Mondo’, made clear his intentions upon reaching the final. While he knew he had work to do to capture the gold, the world record was “on the cards” in the showpiece.
Everybody else had already made that assumption.
World record talk has replaced any discussion of the destination of men’s pole vault gold medals since he first succeeded Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie as the world record holder by clearing 6.17m in February 2020.
And, with World Athletics offering a $100,000 world record bonus, on top of the $70,000 awarded to gold medallists at the championship, there was no lack of motivation to deliver in front of another expectant global audience.
Duplantis’ world record progress
6.17m – 8 Feb 2020 (Torun, Poland)
6.18m – 15 Feb 2020 (Glasgow, UK)
6.19m – 7 Mar 2022 (Belgrade, Serbia)
6.20m – 20 Mar 2022 (Belgrade, Serbia)
6.21m – 24 Jul 2022 (Eugene, USA)
6.22m – 25 Feb 2023 (Clermont-Ferrand, France)
6.23m – 17 Sept 2023 (Eugene, USA)
6.24m – 20 Apr 2024 (Xiamen, China)
6.25m – 5 Aug 2024 (Paris, France)
6.26m – 25 Aug 2024 (Chorzow, Poland)
6.27m – 28 Feb 2025 (Clermont-Ferrand, France)
6.28m – 15 Jun 2025 (Stockholm, Sweden)
6.29m – 12 Aug 2025 (Budapest, Hungary)
6.30m – 15 Sept 2025 (Tokyo, Japan)
