Mondo Duplantis Just Broke Another World Record and It’s Almost Becoming Routine
At only 25 years old, Armand “Mondo” Duplantis has already rewritten pole vault history more times than you can count on your fingers. It’s unbelievable how routine this has become. Since breaking Renaud Lavillenie’s long-standing record in 2020, Mondo has raised the bar 14 times, often by a single centimeter. He just cleared 6.30 meters in Tokyo. Plus, he has an unbeaten run of 49 competitions and eight straight global titles across indoor and outdoor championships.
Raising the Bar, One Centimeter at a Time
Image via Wikimedia Commons/Frankie Fouganthin
The timeline of Mondo’s records reads like a carefully scripted story. He started in February 2020 with 6.17 meters in Torun, Poland. Just a week later, he improved it to 6.18 in Glasgow. Since then, the list of venues looks like a global tour: Belgrade, Eugene, Xiamen, Paris, Stockholm, Budapest, and now Tokyo.
The mark has moved steadily from 6.17 to 6.30 meters, each new height a single centimeter higher than the last. That consistency keeps fans guessing because everyone knows the record attempt is coming. The suspense is only in how many tries it will take him to make it stick.
Tokyo’s clearance was classic Mondo. He had already secured the gold medal at 6.15 meters, which left silver for his main rival, Emmanouil Karalis. Then, two failed attempts at 6.30 left him with a single chance. The crowd of more than 50,000 clapped in rhythm, and when he launched down the runway on that final try, his speed reached 22 miles per hour before he planted the pole. He cleared the bar cleanly, landed on the mat, and immediately leapt into Karalis’ arms. The bar shook but stayed up. That moment sealed his third consecutive outdoor world title.
The Formula Behind His Streak
Mondo’s dominance isn’t an accident. His parents, Greg and Helena, still coach him. Greg is a former pole vaulter, and Helena, a former heptathlete, brings the broader perspective of multi-event training. That mix has produced an athlete who knows exactly how to balance technique, speed, and recovery. He has been using a pole vault setup since his childhood in Louisiana, which explains why his form looks second nature even under the highest pressure. Gear has also played a role, though.
For world record attempts, he laces up a shoe nicknamed “the Claw,” developed by Puma, with a spike that helps him accelerate faster over his 20-step approach. He doesn’t use it every time because earlier versions left him with cuts on his arms, but when the Claw comes out, it signals he’s in record-breaking mode.
Alongside that, he has experimented with stiffer poles to give him more lift at the top of his vaults. These details, added to his natural speed, are why other vaulters describe him as having both the physical edge and the competitive mindset to keep pulling away from the field.
The Tokyo result also came with serious financial rewards: $70,000 for the world title and another $100,000 bonus from World Athletics for the record. Even so, he insists his motivation isn’t rooted in the money. As he said after the jump, “It’s doing what I know I’m capable of.”
What Comes Next
The obvious question is how high he can go. At 6.30 meters, he’s about six and a quarter inches above Sergey Bubka’s final outdoor record of 6.14 meters, which stood for decades. Bubka broke the outdoor record 17 times in his career before finishing in 1994 at age 31. Mondo is only 25 and has already done it 14 times. If the pace continues, he’ll surpass Bubka’s count within the next couple of years.
He’s also hinted at 6.40 meters as a realistic short-term goal. That would mean clearing a bar higher than the average two-story house. More ambitious talk points to 6.50 someday, though he admits that might take years.
Off the track, life is moving fast as well. He’s planning a wedding with fiancée Desiré Inglander, and he’s even mentioned dabbling in music projects.