History-maker Armand Duplantis soared to his 14th world record with his final attempt as the Swedish superstar continued his pole vault domination by winning a third consecutive world title.
For this exceptional feat, World Athletics will award him a $100,000 world record bonus, in addition to the $70,000 awarded to gold medallists at the championship. Duplantis has already claimed every major gold available to him, and last year he became the first man to retain the Olympic pole vault title in 68 years at Paris 2024.
A captivated audience in Tokyo remained in the stadium long after the other events had concluded to witness the sport’s modern-day great become the first human to clear the 6.30m barrier. The 25-year-old has now secured the last eight global men’s pole vault gold medals across both indoor and outdoor competitions following this triumph in the Japanese capital.
Returning to the venue where he achieved the first of those major successes four years ago, Duplantis embraced his latest moment in the spotlight with his charisma and breathtaking talent. The two-time Olympic champion sealed gold with a clearance at 6.15m, ending Emmanouil Karalis’ admirable challenge, before raising the bar to one centimetre higher than he had ever cleared before.
Such is the respect from his competitors that the Greek runner-up—who has risen to fourth on the discipline’s all-time list in pursuit of Duplantis—held a fan for his rival between his agonisingly close first and second attempts.
With the spotlight on him, a hush of expectation was replaced by rhythmic applause at Duplantis’ request as he prepared for his final attempt. Japan’s National Stadium erupted as he leapt up from the mat after his successful effort and began his celebrations.
“It’s better than I could have imagined. To give you guys this world record is amazing. I’m just so happy,” Duplantis told the crowd, who had stayed beyond 23:00 local time to witness his record attempt.
A fourth world record in 2025 represents the most times he has improved the mark in a single year in his career, a journey that seemingly knows no limits.
