What is yellow and jumps very high? Armand Duplantis. The Swede, the big favorite of the Indoor Worlds in Belgrade (Serbia), once again flew to the skies this Sunday. Already assured of the title after a jump to 6.05 m, the Olympic champion then got back in front of the posts to ask for a bar at 6.20 m. Heights that were promised at the time of the great Sergei Bubka, who, by dint of grabbing the centimeters, had stopped at 6.15 m. In 2014, the Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie had rubbed shoulders at this altitude – after breaking the world record with 6.16 m – but injured his heel when he fell after an attempt at 6.21 m. This time, the pole vault world is at 6.20m and it was Duplantis who put it there.
Still, the Swede wasn’t helped by the organization. Ready for his first attempt, he finally had to wait to let the men’s 4x400m relay start. Back pole in hand, he aborted his first two jumps, leaving the impression that it would not be for this Sunday evening. But finally, after leaving the women’s 4x400m relay to run, the 22-year-old pole vaulter took matters into his own hands to clear 6.20m, signing his third world record – after 6.17 and 6.18 in 2020 and 6 .19 m, two weeks ago in this same room – despite a shaking bar.
Untouchable for several seasons, Duplantis therefore seizes the planetary indoor title, after the continental in 2021. Behind him, Thiago Braz (5.95 m) and Christopher Nilsen (5.90 m) complete the podium, while Valentin Lavillenie took fourth place with a jump of 5.85 m, signing a new personal best (ex-record 5.82 m) and entering the very closed circle of the ten best French pole vaulters in history. For his first competition with the France A team, Thibaut Collet, meanwhile, ranked 12th with a bar at 5.60 m.