Armand Duplantis broke his own world record again in the pole vault. While many need competition for top performances, it flies higher and higher.
Actually there should be no athlete in this world who does not have the goal of winning. This applies in particular in professional sports, after all, it is the life’s work of the athletes who in this way earn their money to give everything to be as much as possible. Nobody is already beaten in advance. But there is a small group that raises their hands without a chance.
The Duplantis show started over five years ago
In the mashing high vault of men everyone knows that they have no chance when Armand Duplantis is part of the competition. At the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm, this was again shown by the entire athletics world. When Duplantis crossed 5.90 meters with his second jump of the evening, it was already the victory. It’s always like this: When the Swede just starts, the competition is already over (almost).
But for Duplantis he starts. When the 25-year-old has fulfilled his duty, he jumps against the only opponent he has: He himself. Since “Mondo” has jumped his first world record on February 8, 2020, he is actually only about outdating the current record. At that time he chose the high jump of the pole jumping at 6.17 meters.
A Pole vibrator without limits
However, the following applies to Duplantis: he cannot put the crossbar too high. He has now set up a new world record. It was one centimeter higher, which means that it has now reached 6.28 meters. Why not big jumps? Because Duplantis conceded a bonus of over $ 100,000 from the World Athletics Association for each world record.
The question “How high can it still go?” It is better not to be set in this case, because there seems to be no limits with Duplantis. It must also be the case that he continues to set up world records, because what drive should an athlete still have if he gains every competition (effortlessly) anyway? Whether a small meeting, Diamond League, World Championships or Olympic Games – for Duplantis, a simple victory can no longer be anything special.
The top mark in Stockholm was “Mondos” big goal
However, the world record in Stockholm was something special. Because in the country, under whose flag of Duplantis his achievements, he had not yet been able to set up a record. “The names of everyone who have set up a world record here are engraved here in the stadium”said Duplantis. “The last one was a long time ago. My mother was sitting in the stands when Patrik Sjöberg broke the world record in the high jump in 1986. It will be something very special to see my name engraved in the stadium.”
The exceptional jumper born in the USA had already said in advance that this was a “Absolute dream” were. Duplantis has fulfilled this dream, the more important is that it was obviously just fun what he had threatened as a result at the press conference before the Diamond League meeting: “If I can do it, I can step back.”
Series winner Duplantis is a curse and blessing for his competition at the same time
As much as you think that his competitors want that, it would also be measured if they did it. Because only thanks to Duplanis, the pole vault gets into the spotlight and headlines. The Swede makes a discipline that would otherwise only be one of many, the climax of an event because no one else can do a comparable outstanding. The whole athletics world does not look at the pole vault system because of a gripping duel, but only to see Duplantis flying.
The victory in Stockholm was his 29th in series, the last defeat so far was for Duplantis on July 21, 2023 when he started in Monaco despite a thigh injury. Before that, he had already won twelve times in a row, a series of 19 before. Until the summer of 2023, it happened very rarely that Duplantis did not win – this no longer happens.
This situation is most likely not in top sport. Unlike, for example, in the Bundesliga, for example, in which a supposed boredom has been debated for years because FC Bayern Munich had repeatedly become master, this does not harm the pole vault. It is a blessing for the discipline. Duplantis has to spend little strength for victories and then has the power for his record attempts. This also makes the high -flyer the most lonely athlete in the world.