On January 28, Olympic gold medalist pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis won the men’s pole vault competition at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting in Karlsruhe. Digital Journal has the recap.
Duplantis made quite a season debut in Karlsruhe, which is one of the seven World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meetings this year. He became the first pole vaulter in history to clear the six-meter mark, with a clearance of 6.02 meters, and he set a new meeting record in doing so.
A 22-year-old athlete, Duplantis cleared 6.02 meters on his first attempt, and even tried 6.19 meters three times for a new world record with no subsequent success; however, he was able to obliterate Renaud Lavillenie’s prior meeting record of 5.95 meters.
Duplantis cleared all of his previous vaults on his first attempt, which included such heights as 5.89 meters, 5.71 meters, and 5.51 meters.
American pole vaulter KC Lightfoot finished in second place with a clearance of 5.89 meters, which he accomplished on his third and final attempt. Lightfoot also tried 5.96 meters three times with no success.
At the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, Lightfoot was tied in fourth place with Emmanuel Karalis, where they both cleared 5.80 meters.
To learn more about Mondo Duplantis, follow him on Instagram.
