Armand Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record on Saturday, clearing 6.22 metres to add one centimetre to his previous mark at the All-Star Perche, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting, in Clermont-Ferrand, France.
The event is organised by 2012 Olympic pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie.
After knocking the bar in his first two attempts at the height, the 23-year-old Olympic gold medallist cleared the mark with room to spare on the third attempt, letting out a cheer as the crowd went into a frenzy of celebration.
He set the previous record on his way to winning gold at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July 2021.
After setting the new world record, Duplantis said, “When you have moments like this when the energy is so high, and you are going down there for the record, it feels like levitating, it feels like my body never even touched the ground the whole jump.
US-born Duplantis began the competition at 5.71m, clearing that height at his first attempt.
He managed 5.81m and 5.91m on his second attempt before winning the competition by clearing 6.01m on his first attempt before having the bar raised to record height.
It was the sixth time that Duplantis has broken the world record.
Overall, it was his 60th jump over 6.00m in his career.
He first set the world record in Torun in February 2020, when he cleared 6.17m to add a centimetre to Lavillenie’s previous world record of 6.16m which had stood since 2014.
Duplantis, however, will skip European Indoor Championships in Istanbul next month to focus on winning back-to-back world outdoor titles in Budapest in August.
With Reuters and AFP inputs
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