Olympic champion Armand Duplantis
| Photo Credit: ANDREAS SOLARO
Armand Duplantis of Sweden set a new world pole vault record of 6.22 metres at an indoor assembly in France on Saturday, describing it as “almost an out-of-body experience”.
Olympic champion Duplantis improved his personal record of 6.21m that he set in profitable the world title open air in Oregon final yr.
Competing on the All-Star Perche assembly in Clermont-Ferrand, central France organised by 2012 Olympic pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie, Duplantis cleared the new record at his third try and the delight of the 4,000-strong crowd.
Duplantis, 23, mentioned: “When you have moments like this, when the energy is so high, and you’re going down there for the record, it feels like levitating, it feels like my body never even touched the ground the whole jump.
“There’s something about it that just feels overwhelming right now, and I really think it’s because Renaud means so much to me, he’s meant so much to me since I first started, he’s been my biggest inspiration, biggest idol.
“He really motivated me, made me believe that I could break the world record. So for me to break the world record here, his hometown, his competition that he hosts…”
US-born Duplantis entered the competitors at 5.71m, clearing that peak at his first try.
He handed at 5.81m and managed 5.91m on his second attempt earlier than profitable the competitors by clearing 6.01m on his first try earlier than having the bar raised to the record peak.
It was the sixth time that Duplantis has damaged the world record.
He set the primary in Torun in February 2020, when he cleared 6.17m so as to add a centimetre to Lavillenie’s earlier world record of 6.16m that had stood since 2014.
“Each world record feels like it brings something a bit different out of me,” Duplantis mentioned. “Maybe the first one might have been a bit crazier, but this might be number two right now, it’s really unbelievable.”
He mentioned re-writing the record books now not left him with any nerves.
“The pressure doesn’t really feel the same anymore to me. I’ve proved a lot the past few years, the past two years especially, and I know what kind of jumper I am, what I am capable of.
“I know that I am deserving to be in the spot that I am.”
Duplantis is giving the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul subsequent month a miss so will deal with the out of doors season and profitable back-to-back world out of doors titles in Budapest in August.
