Mondo Duplantis breaks 15th record of career in stunning achievement

Mondo Duplantis has broken the pole vault world record for a staggering 15th time.

The three-time world champion claimed victory at the Mondo Classic in Uppsala in homeland Sweden on Thursday.

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It was only his second appearance of the year after battling with food poisoning when he competed at Clermont-Ferrand, France, in February.

Having cleared 6.06m at that event, Duplantis went even higher in front of his home crowd as he broke his own world record.

The 26-year-old cleared heights of 5.65m, 5.90m and 6.08m to secure victory at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting.

With the event wrapped up, he requested the bar be raised to a world record height of 6.31m.

Duplantis cleared the height to break the record he had previously set at the World Athletics Championship in September.

On that occasion in Tokyo, he also scooped £74,000 in prize money alongside his gold medal.

His latest record-breaking clearance was also a career first for Duplantis.

Whilst it is only the second time he has broken the world record in Sweden, it is his first indoors on home soil.

Duplantis previously did so with a clearance of 6.28m at the Diamond League event in Stockholm back in June.

Speaking to the crowd afterwards, he said: “This is my home.

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“Every time I stand on the track I represent you and feel such pride to jump for you and Sweden.”

Duplantis first broke the pole vault world record back in February 2020 with a clearance of 6.17m

The USA-born athlete has held the mantle ever-since, with his tenure now lasting over six years.

In that time, he has also claimed back-to-back Olympic titles in Tokyo and Paris.

Each of his subsequent world record heights have seen him break the previous benchmark by just 1cm.

This is done to maximise prize money and marketing for Duplantis with incentives on offer each time.

Last year’s World Championships offered athletes £74,000 in prize money for each new world record.

Meanwhile, additional earnings are on offer at indoor events as well as the Diamond League.