Mondo Duplantis at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25 (© AFP / Getty Images)
For a brief moment in Saturday’s World Athletics Indoor Championships men’s pole vault final, Mondo Duplantis looked human but just for a moment.
Instead, Emmanouil Karalis of Greece was left with the unfortunate tag of being the only man in a championship final to clear a height of 6.05m and not win gold.
The sole athlete other than Duplantis past six metres this season, clearing his personal best in Nanjing did for even the briefest of moments suggest the Swede could be toppled at a major final for the first time since 2019.
Duplantis momentarily looked frail as he faltered at his subsequent attempt at 6.10m but the blip was short-lived.
He cleared it at the next attempt and 6.15m at the first time of asking to ensure a hat-trick of world indoor titles. In another era, Karalis would have comfortably been crowned a world champion indoors with that particular mark.
Artificial intelligence had only given Duplantis a relatively meagre 92% chance of the victory when the 25-year-old was deemed by pundits, fans and rivals alike as much a banker for the win as is possible at these championships.
For much of the competition, he toyed with his peers as has become his custom. He opened at 5.70m while some were already bowing out, a height 57cm below the world record he had achieved in Clermont-Ferrand, France, at the end of last month.
He opted to pass at 5.80m, cleared 5.90m while barely looked like he was trying, again ducked out at 5.95m before returning for the 99th clearance of his illustrious career over the six-metre mark.
With just Karalis left in the competition by that stage, it was only a matter of moments before the pole vault century mark was attained. That 100 was all the more impressive bearing in mind the next best in the sport’s record books is Sergey Bubka with 46 clearances of six metres and beyond.
For a time, Sam Kendricks had looked a potential challenger clearing every height from 5.50m to 5.90m at the first time of asking but then failed to go any higher, leaving him with the bronze medal behind Duplantis and Karalis.
Karalis looks the one athlete capable of pushing the world record-holder and seemingly competed with a smile on his face throughout this final. There was a warm embrace between the top two at the end, Duplantis having clearly relished the challenge.
All that remained after that was to see if Duplantis could manage a 12th world record and a clearance of 6.28m but the showman, who had done just that after his Olympic gold in Paris last summer, opted that 6.15m was enough on this occasion.
In the French capital, he lost his voice in the ensuing celebrations. After clearing 6.15m, he leapt off the map with the zest of a first-time championship winner. How the voice proves to be in the morning remains to be seen.
Matt Majendie for World Athletics
| MEN'S POLE VAULT MEDALLISTS | ||
| 🥇 | Mondo Duplantis (SWE) | 6.15m |
| 🥈 | Emmanouil Karalis (GRE) | 6.05m NR |
| 🥉 | Sam Kendricks (USA) | 5.90m =SB |
| Full results | ||
