Armand Duplantis Soars To World Record In Men’s Pole Vault At Pre Classic

By: Gyang Dakwo

Armand Duplantis continued to push boundaries in the men’s pole vault, breaking the world record for the seventh time in his career, soaring over  6.23m/20-5.25 at the Diamond League Prefontaine Classic at Hayward Field.

The Swede added a centimeter to the world record of 6.22m/20-4.75 he set indoors seven months ago.

“The limit is very high, and I hope that I can continue to jump well and keep jumping higher than I did today, but for now I’m not really thinking about anything except enjoying this moment and enjoying what I just did,” Duplantis said.

Duplantis’ previous best outdoors was 6.21m/20-4.25, his winning height at the World Championships here last summer.

The previous meet record was 6.05m/19-10 set in 2015 by Renaud Lavillenie of France.

Duplantis needed just three jumps to win the competition, clearing 5.62m/18-5.25, 5.82m/19-1 and 6.02m/19-9 with ease on first attempts.

“For me, I just try to jump high,” Duplantis said. “I love pole vaulting so much and I’ve loved it ever since I was just a little kid. If I’m able to take pole vaulting to another level and I can get as much eyes as possible watching it by jumping really high and doing some cool things, then that’s a job well done by me. I like where I’m at, I’m gonna try to keep building on this.”