Duplantis breaks pole vault world record for 13th time

Armand Duplantis broke the men’s pole vault world record for a 13th time – and third this year – with a clearance of 6.29m at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old double Olympic and world champion continued his tradition of improving on his previous record by one centimetre in Budapest, having cleared 6.28m at the Stockholm Diamond League meeting in June.

Duplantis first broke the world record, then held by Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie for six years, in February 2020 with a 6.17m clearance in Poland.

Athletes receive bonuses of up to $100,000 (£74,000), in addition to competition awards, for breaking world records at designated Worlds Athletics meetings.

Duplantis missed his first attempt at 6.11m, with Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis retiring after failing twice at the same height. The Swede then had the bar raised to try for a new record, which he successfully completed, despite rattling the bar slightly on his second effort.

After setting a new record at the second attempt on Tuesday night, Duplantis ran straight to the crowd to celebrate with his family and partner Desire Inglander.

Duplantis will compete at the Silesia Diamond League in Poland on Saturday, where he also broke the world record last year.

He will seek to become only the second man, after Sergey Bubka, to win three successive world outdoor pole vault titles when he competes in Tokyo next month.

Between 1984 and 1994, Ukraine’s Bubka broke the outdoor world record 17 times and the indoor mark 18.

Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live, Britain’s Olympic pole vault medallist Holly Bradshaw said: “I had a contract and some manufacturers cap [record bonuses] and say you can only break it twice a year.

“Every competition offers a bonus, so there’s been some competitions where he’s jumped 6.10m and not attempted to break the world record. That to me says the meeting has said there is no bonus for breaking the record, so he’s not tried.”

Bradshaw added: “He’ll definitely break the world record again this year.

“He just defies the odds. I don’t think we could put a cap on him but, going off what I saw the other day, a 6.35m jump is possible.”-BBC

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