09/15/25 09:45:00
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09/15 09:43 CDT Higher and higher! The man called Mondo breaks pole vault world
record for the 14th time
Higher and higher! The man called Mondo breaks pole vault world record for the
14th time
By EDDIE PELLS
AP National Writer
TOKYO (AP) --- Armand "Mondo" Duplantis broke the pole vault world record for
the 14th time Monday night, clearing 6.30 meters to capture his third world
championship.
Duplantis, who grew up in Louisiana but competes for his mother's native
Sweden, easily won his 49th straight meet and fifth straight major title,
including Olympics, then kept the crowd around for another drama-rich half-hour
to watch him go for the record.
He cleared his top height (20 feet, 8 inches) on his third and final try -- the
bar still bouncing but not falling as he leaped off the mat and jumped into
second-place finisher Emmanouil Karalis' arms to start the celebration.
Duplantis gets $70,000 for the victory plus a $100,000 bonus for setting the
record at the world championships. The jam-packed stadium that stuck around for
his finale gets a great memory.
"To give you guys this moment, it's just amazing," Duplantis said in an
in-stadium interview.
The 25-year-old first broke the record on Feb. 8, 2020, clearing 6.17 meters
and knocking France's 2012 Olympic champion, Renaud Lavillenie, off the top
spot.
Since then, Duplantis has improved upon the record by one centimeter every
time, giving him more opportunities to pocket bonuses like the one he gets at
this event.
"What Mondo has in spades is what every pole vaulter is trying to achieve,"
said Sam Kendricks, the fourth-place finisher who is the last man not named
Duplantis to win a world title (in 2019). "He's got a jump, he's got the jets.
He's got a family that really supports him, and then he's got a field of guys
that's really pushing him up there."
As great a showman as an athlete, Duplantis shared handshakes and hugs with all
those guys after Karalis missed at 6.20 meters to guarantee Duplantis the win.
He headed over to the edge of the track to consult with his coach, walked back
near the runway and took a seat, then stood up, chalked up his hands and let
the drama begin.
Just as he did a year ago at the Paris Olympics, Duplantis missed his first two
tries, leaving himself with one, last all-or-nothing attempt.
After sitting for about five minutes, he got up, took off, reached a speed of
more than 35 kilometers per hour (22 mph), then went vaulting over the highest
height ever cleared -- enough room to fit a full-sized pickup truck.
"I believe in him," said his dad, Greg, in an interview from the stadium. "I
believed he was going to make it on the last one. You've got to believe."
The next question is how high Duplantis might finally go. He suggested in an
interview before the championships that 6.5 meters was an interesting number.
At that rate, it would take another few years. The good news is, he's 25 and,
for comparison, the great Sergey Bubka, who won six straight world titles
through the 1980s and '90s, was 31 when he broke the record for the 17th and
final time.
His final mark was 6.14 meters and after Lavillenie topped that once, Duplantis
took over a streak that he extended in Tokyo --- the first time he's broken the
record in Japan.
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports
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