LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Mondo Duplantis called his victory Thursday in a vibrant lakeside Diamond League event “the greatest pole vaulting competition ever.”
The Olympic and world champion then took two attempts at a new world record of 6.32 meters and just failed to delight a noisy crowd at a pop-up venue near the Olympic Museum in Lausanne.
Duplantis had cleared the bar at 6.21 meters — with first-time clearances at each of six different heights — for his best result since March, the month that he raised his own world record to 6.31 at an indoor meet in his native Sweden.
Emmanouil Karalis, Duplantis' great friend and rival, cleared 6.16 on Thursday and barely failed on his second attempt at a lifetime best of 6.21.
Three more athletes cleared 5.91, which would have been enough to take bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where Duplantis raised his world record to 6.25 and silver medalist Sam Kendricks went over 5.95.
The high-class competition that lasted 2 1/2 hours Thursday also saw four more men, including Kendricks, clear 5.81.
The men's pole vault in an intimate venue by Lake Geneva in Lausanne has become a traditional curtain raiser for the main Athletissima meeting one day later.
On Friday, new Swiss star Audrey Werro is the main attraction in the women's 800 meters chasing track's oldest world record set 43 years ago, in which she is now the third-fastest in history.
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