Pole vault sensation Armand “Mondo” Duplantis fell short of surpassing his own world record of 6.22 meters at the recently concluded Brussels Diamond League 2023.
Despite his unbeatable track record, the 23-year-old Swedish athlete claimed the top spot in the men’s pole vault competition at the Brussels Diamond League on Friday, September 8, clearing a commendable 6.10 meters to secure the gold medal for his nation and a place in the finals. However, the primary focus of this event was his attempt to surpass his own world record, which remained unattained, leaving him somewhat dissatisfied with his performance.
Before his endeavor at the Brussels leg of the 2023 Diamond League season, Duplantis had made three prior attempts in Budapest and Zurich, all without success.
With this being his fourth attempt, Duplantis was keen on achieving his goal this time. And, this was very clear to everyone who was present that day. So as he made all his attempts, the spectators were nervous along with him as well. In his final attempt, however, he didn’t reach his desired outcome, which elicited a collective gasp from the crowd.
This heart-stopping moment was also shared by the World Athletics on their X account. It featured a photo of the Swedish athlete and a caption that read:
So close 😱@mondohoss600 flies over a 6.10m meeting record in the men's pole vault 🔥
He just misses out on a new world record of 6.23m in his third and final attempt 😩#DiamondLeague pic.twitter.com/Sltn21fEup
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) September 8, 2023
Duplantis’ world records over the years
So far, Duplantis has achieved 6-meter (or more) clearances more than 60 times in his entire professional career, which is the most of any athlete in history. In February 2020, he first achieved the world record of 6.17m in Torun, beating Lavillenie’s previous world record of 6.16m that had stood since 2014. A week later, Duplantis broke the world record again with a 6.18 meter clearance in Glasgow.
After a period of two years without a new world record, he achieved two in a row, the first being a 6.19m clearance at the Belgrade Indoors on March 7, 2022, and the second being a 6.20m clearance thirteen days later, when he won gold at the World Championships in Athletics Belgrade 22.
Within the same year, he established a new outdoor world record again when he cleared 6.21 meters at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon.
And finally, just in February this year, the Swedish pole vault star improved his world pole vault record by one centimeter, achieving a height of 6.22 meters at the All Star Perche, a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting.
The world is now anticipating Duplantis’ next competition in the Diamond League final, which will take place in Eugene, Oregon, on September 16 and 17.
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