Armand Duplantis breaks his own pole vault world record with leap of 6.27m

PARIS – It was a “special, crazy, and hard to explain” feeling for Armand Duplantis on Feb 28, as the Swedish Olympic champion broke his own world record at the All-Star Perche meet in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

After securing victory in the indoor competition by clearing 6.07 metres, Duplantis then took aim at the world record, raising the bar to 6.27m and clearing it at the first attempt.

“I just felt really good. What can I say, I came here to do it,” he said, adding that breaking the world record remained exhilarating.

“I put everything in place to do it. The run-up worked really well. I just did it.

“Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s not. There’s a lot of hard work, hardship, bad days, good days, everything in between that gets you to the easier moments.

“It’s always special. It’s a crazy feeling every time. It’s like a feeling of euphoria. It’s hard to explain.”

It was the 11th time he had broken the record by 1cm since first claiming it with a leap of 6.17m in February 2020.

Duplantis made sure that his song “Bop” – released just in time for the meet – was playing in the arena.

“That was my song that was playing. When I made this song a couple of months ago, I thought this would be a perfect song to jump to here. That’s why I rushed it out,” the breathless Swede said immediately after the jump.

But the Louisiana-born athlete declined to sing.

“Now my voice is messed up because I’ve been yelling,” he said.

This is the second time that Duplantis, 25, has improved his mark in Clermont-Ferrand. He cleared 6.22m in February 2023.

“I’m going to enjoy this right now I’m going to have a good time tonight and enjoy it,” he added.

Duplantis had set the previous record of 6.26m at a Diamond League meeting in Chorzow, Poland on Aug 25, 2024.

That was just a few weeks after he earned the Olympic gold medal in Paris with his ninth world record of 6.25m.

On Feb 28, Duplantis and Emmanouil Karalis, the Olympic bronze medallist, both cleared 6.02m. The Greek jumper decided “not to take risks” as he was feeling cramps and withdrew after an unsuccessful try at 6.07m.

Duplantis broke the tie by clearing 6.07m and immediately raised the bar by 20cm.

The meet was the second of the season for the Swedish star, who made his return to competition in Berlin on Feb 14 by jumping 6.10m.

He had opted to compete in Clermont and skip the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands on March 6-9.

“I just love it here,” Duplantis said. “I love the atmosphere here.

“I jump really well here. Everyone jumps really well here. This is why I didn’t go to Europe.”

He will jump again on March 13 in Uppsala, Sweden, in a meeting he is organising, before going to the world indoor championships in Nanjing, China, on March 21-23.

Asked when he will break 6.30m, Duplantis answered “28, 29” first. AFP