Pole vaulter Armand Duplantis is soaring proof that there is no limit to human achievement

A kid in a backyard with a stick is thinking about the idea of extraordinary flight. He’s three years old and has a feeling which he can’t fully explain. “When I was in diapers,” said pole vaulter Armand Duplantis of early days in his backyard, “I wanted to be the best that’s ever lived – to break the world record.”

The world record is temporary yet titanic, a journey to where no one human has been. It is one person with an inner swagger redrawing the boundaries of achievement for billions. It is a realisation of the potential of the planet.