Olympic
gold medallist Mondo Duplantis broke his own pole vault world record for the
second time in less than two weeks at the World Athletics Indoor Championships
on Sunday as he clinched yet another gold to his illustrious career. The last
time when he broke his own record it came at the same venue, the Stark Arena in
Belgrade.

Duplantis
cleared 6.19m almost two weeks back to add one centimetre to his own world
record set in Glasgow in February 2020.

On
Sunday, competing again in the Serbian capital, Duplantis reached the 6.20m
height mark with his third and final attempt to make history once again. Once he achieved a new milestone, he rushed
from the mat with sheer joy, and into the crowd to greet girlfriend Desiré
Inglander.

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At
the World Athletics Indoor Championships, Duplantis only needed four jumps to
secure gold with a first-time clearance at 6.05m seeing him take victory from Rio
2016 gold medallist Thiago Braz.

Tokyo
2020 silver medallist Chris Nilsen secured bronze.

Then
it was all about Duplantis. The 22-year-old was visibly annoyed by a lengthy
delay to put the bar in place for his world record attempt.

The
delay happened due to the men’s 4x400m relay, and then he had two attempts
where he pulled out three-quarters of the way up his spring towards the bar.

His
third and final attempt would come after the last track final of the weekend,
the women’s 4x400m relay, giving him the chance to end the championships in the
best way possible.

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Always
a showman, Duplantis is obliged to set the fifth world record of his career.

His
first career gold came in February 2020 when he broke London 2012 gold
medallist Renaud Lavillenie’s world record by clearing 6.17m in Torun, Poland
before improving that the following week in Glasgow.

In
September, that year, he cleared 6.15m at the Rome Diamond League meeting to
surpass Sergey Bubka’s outdoor pole vault world best of 6.14m set in Sestriere
in July 1994.