A historic pole vault competition in Lausanne, in an incredible atmosphere! Armand Duplantis won the Athletissima City Event with a magnificent 6.21m clearance, his highest jump since his wedding this summer, before unsuccessfully attempting to break his own world record. He had to be at his very best to beat Emmanouíl Karalís, who cleared 6.16m. Never before had two men gone that high in the same competition.
The Swede and the Greek put on a fantastic show for more than 5,000 spectators. By clearing 6.16m first and then 6.21m, Duplantis broke the unofficial world record for a City Event, improving on the 6.15m he had cleared in Ouchy in 2024. All of this came in an incredible atmosphere, with the DJ perfectly timing a series of hits, including “Feeling Myself”, a track composed by “Mondo” himself.
“I’ll be back, the atmosphere here is exceptional. And we’ve never seen two pole vaulters go this high in the same competition,” said the very likeable Swedish “ogre” after clearing 6.21m, and even before his two attempts at 6.32m, one centimetre above his outright world record. He came very close. With a little more freshness, he seemed to have it in his legs. But it had been a long evening, and by his second attempt at 6.32m, the daylight had already faded considerably. Combined with “Mondo’s” very relative fatigue, just one week after winning his fourth European title in Birmingham, the reduced visibility meant Lausanne missed out on a new world record, 20 years after the last one, Liu Xiang’s 110m hurdles record. Surely, it will only be a matter of time.
The depth of the competition was extraordinary. Behind the two extraterrestrials, three men cleared 5.91m: Kurtis Marschall (AUS/3rd), Sondre Guttormsen (NOR/4th) and Chris Nilsen (USA/5th). Four more cleared 5.81m: Ernest John Obiena (PHI/6th), Zachery Bradford (USA) and Sam Kendricks, tied for 7th, and KC Lightfoot (USA), 9th. The Frenchmen Baptiste Thiery and Renaud Lavillenie rounded out the field with 5.51m.
