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Sweden’s Olympic champion Armand Mondo Duplantis raised the bar at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade on Sunday to further improve his indoor pole vault record. By clearing a height of 6.20m in his third and final attempt, Duplantis won the gold medal in style.
The silver went to 2016 Rio Olympic champion Thiago Braz, who cleared 5.95m, while Chris Nilsen of the USA took home the bronze medal by clearing a height of 5.90m.
At 22, Duplantis was already the reigning European indoor and outdoor champion. He has now added a world indoor title to his kitty. Going by his dominance, the Swede looks favorite to add the World Championships title to his profile in July.
Duplantis began his 2022 indoor campaign in style, becoming the first pole vaulter to clear six meters at the INIT Indoor Meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany. He won the gold medal there after achieving a height of 6.02m to erase the meeting record of 5.95m set by Renaud Lavillenie in 2021.
It has become a sort of routine for the gifted athlete to etch his name in the record books. A fortnight ago, Duplantis had scaled a height of 6.19m at the same venue in Belgrade.
“I feel like Belgrade is going to be a special place in my heart forever,” Duplantis was quoted as saying by World Athletics.
According to World Athletics, it took Duplantis two years and 54 attempts at 6.19m to finally clear that bar. His improvement to the 6.20m took just two weeks and just three attempts.
In his childhood, Duplantis practiced at home on a runway his father built, dreaming of nights like the one just passed in Belgrade.
“Vaulting in my backyard for 10 years, it was me just visualizing myself on this stage, thinking about the crowd going crazy for a world record attempt,” Duplantis told World Athletics in a post-event interaction.
