TOKYO: Sweden’s Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis set a new world record of 6.30m as he successfully defended his world pole vault title in Tokyo today.
Duplantis had already wrapped up the competition with a winning vault of 6.15m before raising the bar another 15cm.
He went clear on his third attempt in what was his 14th world record in a discipline in which he is totally dominant.
The 25-year-old raced off the mat and raced around the track before running into the stands for a passionate kiss with his partner and a quick embrace of his parents, much to the delight of a packed National Stadium.
His rivals swarmed around him as he made his way back, enveloped in a Swedish flag.
Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis took silver with a best of 6.00m and Australian Kurtis Marschall claimed bronze with a personal best of 5.95m, taking the medal on countback from American Sam Kendricks.