Duplantis breaks world pole vault record for 11th time

PARIS – It was a “special, crazy, and hard to explain” feeling for Armand Duplantis on Feb 28, as the Swedish Olympic champion broke his own world record at the All-Star Perche meet in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

After securing victory in the indoor competition by clearing 6.07 metres, Duplantis then took aim at the world record, raising the bar to 6.27m and clearing it at the first attempt.

“I just felt really good. What can I say, I came here to do it,” he said, adding that breaking the world record remained exhilarating.

“I put everything in place to do it. The run-up worked really well. I just did it.

“Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s not. There’s a lot of hard work, hardship, bad days, good days, everything in between that gets you to the easier moments.

“It’s always special. It’s a crazy feeling every time. It’s like a feeling of euphoria. It’s hard to explain.”

It was the 11th time he had broken the record by 1cm since first claiming it with a leap of 6.17m in February 2020.

Duplantis made sure that his song “Bop” – released just in time for the meet – was playing in the arena.

“That was my song that was playing. When I made this song a couple of months ago, I thought this would be a perfect song to jump to here. That’s why I rushed it out,” the breathless Swede said immediately after the jump.

But the Louisiana-born athlete declined to sing.

“Now my voice is messed up because I’ve been yelling,” he said.

This is the second time that Duplantis, 25, has improved his mark in Clermont-Ferrand. He cleared 6.22m in February 2023.

“I’m going to enjoy this right now I’m going to have a good time tonight and enjoy it,”