Mondo Duplantis Clears Pole Vault World Record at Copernicus Cup

By Adam Kopet

Armand "Mondo" Duplantis broke the pole vault world record Saturday at the Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland. He cleared 20-2.75 (6.17m) on his second attempt.

He did it!!! @mondohoss600 with new world record!!! @WorldAthletics @PKN_ORLEN #copernicuscup pic.twitter.com/VrcgJ5OoSm

— Copernicus Cup (@CopernicusCup) February 8, 2020

The 20-year old, who competes for Sweden, had already made a world-record attempt earlier in the week. Competing Tuesday in Germany, Duplantis won the competition with a world-leading clearance of 19-8.25 (6.00m). He raised the bar to 6.17m and made three attempts at the world record. His second attempt was close, with him brushing the bar off with his elbow on the way down.

After that performance, the idea of Duplantis breaking the world record seemed inevitable. As it turned out, the wait was only four days.

Duplantis had four first-time clearances on his way to making his world-record attempts. He won the competition at 18-9.25 (5.72m). Duplantis then cleared 19-5 (5.92m) to break the meet record and 19-8.50 (6.01m) to improve his world lead, before raising the bar to 6.17m.

He cleared on his second attempt. Duplantis ran out of the pit into the arms of two of his competitors to celebrate. Then he went into the stands to embrace his mother. Breaking the world record had been a goal going back to his earliest years in the sport.

The previous indoor world record was held by France's Renaud Lavillenie at 20-2.50 (6.16m) from 2014. Prior to that, Ukraine's Sergey Bubka was the only athlete to clear 20 feet. Bubka is the only athlete to make that achievement both indoors and outdoors.