Armand Duplantis has done it again! The 23-year-old Olympic champion has broken his own pole vault record, clearing 6.22 metres at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting in France. The crowd erupted in cheers as Duplantis cleared the bar with room to spare on his third attempt. Renaud Lavillenie, the Olympic champion in 2012, ran to embrace him as a spray of sparklers went off.
The Swedish athlete described his record-breaking jump as an “out-of-body experience”, saying “it feels like my body never even touched the ground the whole jump”. This marks the sixth time that Duplantis has broken the world record and the 60th time he has cleared six metres or higher. He set the first record in Torun, Poland, in February 2020, when he cleared 6.17 metres to add a centimetre to Lavillenie’s previous world record of 6.16 metres that had stood since 2014.
Duplantis said that rewriting the record books no longer left him with any nerves. “The pressure doesn’t really feel the same anymore to me”, he said. “I’ve proved a lot the past few years, the past two years especially, and I know what kind of jumper I am, what I am capable of. I know that I am deserving to be in the spot that I am.”
Saturday’s achievement was met with great celebration, and Duplantis’s incredible feat is sure to be remembered for years to come. His remarkable talent and determination have earned him a place in history as one of the greatest pole vaulters of all time.