Greek Emmanouil Karalis pushed Swedish-American Armand Duplantis to a jump of 6.25 metres. That had never happened before.
The World Indoor Championships gold is Duplantis' fourth at that event and his 13th championship gold overall, indoors and outdoors. The last time he missed out on a championship gold was in the World Championships final in Doha in 2019.
"I'm a competitive person and I like to compete. It was really fun to have a little pressure and push myself a little," says Duplantis.
"I needed to work a little. It's okay, it's the World Championships so it shouldn't be easy. It was my gold anyway."
"Jumped really well"
Duplantis made six jumps in the competition and cleared all of them on the first attempt. Only the 6.25 jump had a wobble on the bar.
When Karalis cleared 6.00, he had to attempt heights he normally wouldn't. The Greek has a personal best of 6.17 metres. He settled for 6.05 after making one attempt at 6.20 and two attempts at 6.25.
"He's jumping really well right now. He was pretty close to 6.25, actually. He can jump at this level," Duplantis says of Karalis.
Nine days earlier, Duplantis set his latest world record, 6.31 metres, at his home meet in Uppsala. Before the World Championships, he had expected to try for a record there as well. It was in Toruń that he set his first world record, in February 2020.
Going to have a Guinness
But on Saturday night he made no attempt to break the record. He was too tired after jumping so many jumps over six metres.
"You get tired when you don't get much rest between 6.10 and 6.15 metres. You only have three minutes and then you get lactic acid. And it was a bit of a shame that I was first in line."
His wife Desiré (they were married civilly earlier in March) was not present in Toruń. Perhaps so Duplantis could celebrate the indoor season, which ended with the World Championships, with his pole-vaulting buddies.
"She lets the guys do their thing. We're going to hang out; I don't know exactly what we'll do, but I missed St. Patrick's Day so I need a Guinness to start. But I'm such a skinny guy, so I drink maybe two and then I'm pretty full."
Australian Kurtis Marschall took bronze with 6.00 metres.
Born: November 10, 1999, in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA (age 26).
Event: Pole vault.
Club: Uppsala IF.
Selection of achievements: Olympic gold in 2021 and 2024; World Championship gold in 2022, 2023, 2025; European Championship gold in 2018, 2022, 2024. Indoors: World Championship gold in 2022, 2024, 2025, 2026; European Championship gold in 2021. Set a world record - for the 15th time - when he cleared 6.31 metres in Uppsala.
