Mondo Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record Monday night at the Olympics, clearing 6.25 meters (20 feet, 6 inches) to cap his second straight gold-medal performance on the sport’s biggest stage.
Duplantis cleared the mark on his third and final try. It marked the ninth time the Louisiana-born 24-year-old, who competes for his mother’s native Sweden, has broken the record, but the first time at the Olympics.
Duplantis’ string of breaking records, each time by one centimeter, started Feb. 8, 2020. His previous record came April 20 in China.
America’s Sam Kendricks won the silver medal and Emmanouli Karalis of Greece took the bronze.
After Duplantis had the victory sealed by clearing 6.10, he had the bar moved to one centimeter higher than the world-record height. Following his first miss, he used a break while Noah Lyles was receiving the gold medal for his 100-meter victory the night before, to study video evidence with his parents on a tablet.
Another miss ensued, then another long break.
All of the other events were over, but most of the crowd, including the king and queen of Sweden, stayed in the arena, singing along to the French song “Alleur de Feu” — “Light the Fire” — and clapping in rhythm. Finally, Duplantis lined up for the last try and cleared it, then went sprinting toward the stands to celebrate.
