"Mondo" jumped a new competition record of 6.10 meters and achieved the world's best performance of the year in Berlin's indoor athletics gala and won the pole vault competition.
The 25-year-old thereby broke his own competition record, 6.06, from 2023.
It was a good season premiere. You always have a little rust you need to get rid of in the first competition. The energy I got from everyone here really helped me, he says in the victory interview on the infield of the Uber Arena, in Aftonbladet's TV broadcast.
Duplantis also attempted the world record height of 6.27 but failed twice. After that, he discontinued the competition. His own world record of 6.26 from Chorzow, Poland, in August last year still stands.
France next
The Swedish-American "Mondo" was never really threatened after clearing the height of 5.55 and being faultless up to and including 6.02, where Olympic bronze medalist Emmanouil Karalis from Greece was the last competitor to be eliminated. Duplantis missed in his first attempt at 6.10 but cleared in his second, which became his winning result.
This year's season premiere was clearly better than last year's when he won in Astana, Kazakhstan, on 5.80 meters in January.
Next, Duplantis is expected to compete in Clermont-Ferrand, France, in two weeks.
Double World Championship
Duplantis, who won his second Olympic gold in Paris last year, is primarily aiming for the indoor World Championship in Nanjing, China, in March. This year's major competition is, however, the outdoor World Championship in Tokyo in September, where he will defend his gold from Budapest 2023.
Friday's gala in Berlin was the first of only four indoor competitions he will participate in due to a long, upcoming outdoor season, Duplantis announced to Aftonbladet in December. He will, among other things, skip the indoor European Championship in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, in early March.
Friday, February 28: Clermont-Ferrand, France.
Thursday, March 13: Uppsala.
Saturday, March 22: Indoor World Championship, Nanjing, China.
Source: Aftonbladet.
