Another day, another major title, another chapter in the extraordinary career of Mondo Duplantis.
The Swedish superstar secured his fourth consecutive world indoor gold in the men’s pole vault in Kujawy Pomorze on Saturday (21), clearing a championship record of 6.25m.
But this was no procession. Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis, now firmly established as the world No. 2, pushed the world record holder deep into the competition.
Karalis keeps up pressure
Duplantis opened with a routine clearance at 5.50m before progressing smoothly with first-time clearances at 5.85m and 6.00m. By then, only Duplantis, Karalis and Australia’s Kurtis Marschall remained.
Karalis had a single failure at 6.00m, while Marschall faltered at 5.95m before bowing out at 6.05m. The Greek then cleared 6.05m at the first attempt to keep the pressure on.
With the competition down to two, Duplantis raised the bar again—clearing 6.10m and 6.15m on his first attempts, heights Karalis elected to pass.
Karalis re-entered at 6.20m—3cm above his recently set personal best—but clipped the bar on his first attempt.
Duplantis responded in style, soaring over 6.25m at the first time of asking to set a new championship record.
Karalis could not match him, failing twice at that height and settling for silver, though he could take pride in pushing Duplantis all the way.
The crowd urged Duplantis to take on his own world record of 6.32m, but with six jumps already in his legs, he opted to call it a day—another gold medal and another record secured.