Mondo Duplantis sets 13th pole vault world record of his career, third of 2025

Olympic Champion Mondo Duplantis has set the 13th pole vault world record of his career by clearing 6.29m at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Budapest, Hungary.

Duplantis, 25, is the Olympic and World Champion. At the Continental Gold Tour meet, just under a month out from his World title defence in Tokyo, he added another centimetre to the 6.28m world record he had set in Stockholm, Sweden, this June.

Emmanouil Karalis (6.02m) of Greece finished second to Duplantis, for the 12th time in his career. Australia’s Kurtis Marschall was third with 5.82m.

It might be the first world record that the Gyulai Memorial stadium has seen, but it is Duplantis’ third this calendar year, and his fourth since the Olympic final in Paris last August. There, he cleared 6.25m with a clutch (third and final attempt) jump, and became the first man since Bob Richards (in 1956) to successfully defend a pole vault Olympic title.

He first jumped a world record in February 2020 when he cleared 6.17m, bettering Renaud Lavillenie 6.16m which had stood for almost six years. All 13 of Duplantis’ world records have been by one centimetre, with sponsor Red Bull paying him a bonus for every world record.

He accounts for 32 of the 44 competitions where an athlete has cleared at least 6.10m, and is currently on a winning streak of 36 meets, which date all the way back to August 2023 when he won the World title in Budapest.

Duplantis is one of the most dominant sports in any track and field discipline ever, largely owning to his incredible sprint speed that he converts to height after he sprints along the runway. Last year, he clocked 10.37s for 100m at an exhibition race in Zurich, Switzerland, when racing 400m world-record holder Karsten Warholm.

He comes from a sporting and pole vault family, with his older brothers having competed in the sport, while father and coach Greg vaulted internationally for the U.S.. It meant Duplantis started vaulting from a young age in his backyard — he still holds age-group best jumps for ages seven through 12.

Duplantis’ younger sister, Johanna, is following in his footsteps, too. Like Mondo, she studies now at Louisiana State University, the state in which he and his siblings were born and grew up in (their mother is Swedish, which is why Mondo competes for them). Mondo and Johanna are scheduled to compete in a Diamond League together for the first time this weekend, in Silesia, Poland.

(ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP via Getty Images)