World Athletics Championships: Mondo Duplantis, the Swede who vaults to break his own world record

Duplantis’ blazing form just before the World Championships in Oregon has made him a clear favourite for the gold.

After he began his career with the World Youth Championships in 2015, Duplantis was dubbed the successor of legendary Sergey Bubka, the first pole vaulter to jump six metres way back in 1994.  | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Pole Vaulter Mondo Duplantis is on a record-breaking spree. So far, he has broken the World Record (WR) five times, setting an unprecedented landmark in his young career.

After he began his career with the World Youth Championships in 2015, Duplantis was dubbed the successor of legendary Sergey Bubka, the first pole vaulter to jump six metres way back in 1994. Bubka’s outdoor world record of 6.14m stood for two and a half decades before Duplantis cleared 6.16 metres at the Stockholm Diamond League on June 30.

Duplantis, 22, took a giant leap since finishing runner-up in his first senior World Athletics Championships in 2019. Not only had he won the Olympic gold in Tokyo but also broke the indoor world record four times. First, the Swede shattered Renaud Lavillenie’s indoor WR with a jump of 6.17m in Torun, Poland, before setting a new one with a 6.18m leap a week later in Glasgow.

But, his quest to achieve the 6.19m mark was not coming easily. Finally, in March 2022, at the Belgrade Indoor Meeting, he achieved it before setting the new indoor WR of 6.20m.

Duplantis’ blazing form just before the World Championships in Oregon has made him a clear favourite for the gold as his nearest rival Christopher Nilsen is trailing by 0.16m.