14th time! Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis has broken the pole vault world record for the 14th time in a little over five years, from 6.17 to 6.30m, being the latest as he won the Gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Monday, September 16. Duplantis, who was coming off a victory at the Diamond League in Zurich, reached the 6.29m mark at the Gyulai Istvan Memorial in Budapest last month and now has cross it by one more centimetre, as he brought the claw back.
"I am so happy, I cannot explain it," Duplantis said after winning the competition in Tokyo. "For the past two weeks, I really enjoyed being in Tokyo. I have been enjoying everything so much. I feel the only way to leave Japan was to set the world record. That was my mentality," he added.
The specially-made shoes he calls 'the Claw' are only sported when the 25-year-old senses that a new world record might be around the corner. It is a weird-looking shoe, with a spike protruding from the front of it like a medieval torture implement, which also underwent a slight change with the metal spike from last year being blunted, made of rubber.
“Whenever I think that I have a chance to break world records I do bring out the Claw. “I don’t do it every time, but when it comes out, then you know it’s business time. I can really feel the benefit from the very beginning of the running, and the way that I’m able to push the first few steps and build up speed," he added.
As soon as he landed on the mat, Duplantis was surrounded by his competitors in jubilation and he ran towards his girlfriend, Desiré Inglander, in the stands as he sealed his win with a kiss.
Emmanouil Karalis of Greece jumped to 6.00m for silver, while Australia’s Kurtis Marschall went past the 5.95m mark for bronze.
