6.24 meters: Armand Duplantis beats own pole vault world record

Sweden’s Armand “Mondo” Duplantis opened his outdoor season in stunning fashion on Saturday as he bettered his own pole vault world record at the Xiamen Diamond League meeting.

Duplantis, the reigning Olympic, two-time world and European champion, cleared 6.24 meters at his first attempt at the Egret Stadium to improve by 1cm his previous best set in Eugene last year.

The US-born 24-year-old entered competition at 5.62m, clearing 5.82 and 6.00m before setting the new world record – his eighth in the discipline, each by 1cm since first breaking the record in February 2020 in Torun, Poland.

“This is my first time in China and it’s exciting to get my season going,” said Duplantis, who retained his world indoor title in Glasgow last month with a 6.10m clearance.

American Sam Hendricks, who finished second with a best of 5.82m, a massive 42 centimeters adrift, said Duplantis has got “God’s hand on his back.”

“I’ve been a champion before, Mondo has been my vice-champion. I’ve seen him from a 14-year-old come all the way up and it makes me actually ever joyous to be even just second place behind the world record holder because I know he works so darned hard, he goes all over the place and he’s becoming the true champion we all want him to be.”