FOLLOWING ON HIS 3-World Record 2024 outdoor campaign with two more flights above 20 feet in a short, sweet indoor season, Mondo Duplantis lifted the absolute pole vault WR by yet another centimeter. Others, too, set or threatened WRs in Europe in February.
Duplantis Opens With 20-0 (6.10)
BERLIN, GERMANY, February 14 — For a season opener, not bad. Mondo Duplantis shook the rust off at the ISTAF Indoor to record yet another 20-foot vault. He made first attempt clearances at 18-2½ (5.55), 19-2¼ (5.85), and 19-9 (6.02). He needed two tries to get over a world-leading 20-0 (6.10).
Then he made two attempts at a World Record 20-6¾ (6.27) before decided to hang it up and celebrate. “It was a good competition to start the season. I like jumping here and it was good to come back to this hall,” he said. “You always need to shake off some rust.”
Emmanouíl Karalís of Greece placed 2nd at 19-5¾ (5.94).
Jackson Takes Sole Ownership Of AR
TORUŃ, POLAND, February 16 — The highlight of the Copernicus Cup, at least from a U.S. perspective, came when Chase Jackson threw the shot 66-5 (20.24). That brought down the American Record set by Michelle Carter in ’16 and tied by Jackson at the World Indoor in ’22.
The mark seemed destined to happen eventually, as the 2-time world champion had already thrown beyond it 7 times outdoors, topped by her outdoor AR of 68-1½ (20.76). In the competition, she dispatched Dutch star Jessica Schilder (65-7¾/20.01) and Canada’s Sarah Mitton (64-7¼/19.69).
On the track, Gudaf Tsegay ran 3:53.92 in the 1500, a mark second only to her World Record from ’21. She led from the 800 (2:05.2) and was running alone by 1200 (3:07.9). Birke Haylom finished 2nd in 3:59.82.
Italy’s Mattia Furlani came through on his final jump, a world-leading 27-5½ (8.37) to get his first-ever win over Olympic champion Miltiádis Tentóglou. The Greek had led till then with his best effort of 26-4¼ (8.03).
Mondo’s Eleventh WR
CLERMONT-FERRAND, FRANCE, February 28 — World Record No. 11 seemed to come easy to Mondo Duplantis, vaulting over 20-6¾ (6.27) at the All Star Perche event in this city in central France.
The 25-year-old Cajun Swede registered first-attempt clearances at 18-6½ (5.65), 19-4¾ (5.91), 19-9 (6.02) and 19-11 (6.07). Along the way, he had company. Emmanouíl Karalís was tied with him at that point, vaulting cleanly all the way to a Greek Record 19-9 (6.02). It also equaled the highest non-winning mark ever. That was as high as he could go; one failed attempt at 19-11 (6.07) and he put his poles away.
That left Duplantis to have the bar raised to a new World Record. He stared at the bar while the stadium DJ fired up “Bop,” a song the vaulter released earlier that day. Then he charged down the runway, planted, and lofted himself over the height on his first go.
“I just felt really good,” he said. “What can I say? I came here to do it. I put everything in place to do it. The runup worked really well. I just did it.” □
