Mondo Duplantis at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 (© Getty Images)
Final: Friday 11 Sep, 20:08
Contenders:
Mondo Duplantis (SWE) 🌍🏅
Emmanouil Karalis (GRE) 💎
Kurtis Marschall (AUS)
Sondre Guttormsen (NOR)
Sam Kendricks (USA)
Christopher Nilsen (USA)
Baptiste Thiery (FRA)
Zachery Bradford (USA)
World lead: 6.31m (i) Mondo Duplantis (SWE) Uppsala, 12 Mar
2026 world list | world rankings
World record: 6.31m (i) Mondo Duplantis (SWE) Uppsala, 12 Mar 2026
world all-time list | world record progression
- World and Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis takes centre stage after creating the official Ultimate anthem
- Emmanouil Karalis arrives as Diamond League champion and has pushed Duplantis increasingly close in recent weeks
- Kurtis Marschall handed Duplantis his first defeat in almost three years in Stockholm
There are few safer favourites at the Ultimate – or, indeed, any pole vault competition – than Mondo Duplantis.
The two-time Olympic and three-time world champion has once again pushed pole vaulting into new territory in 2026. The Swedish superstar raised his own world record to 6.31m in Uppsala in March and has since produced a string of six-metre-plus victories, including a 6.25m outdoor world lead in Zurich.
Duplantis has also become one of the faces of the inaugural Ultimate Championship. Named an Ultimate Star, he wrote and recorded Gold, the official anthem for Budapest, and will perform it live in the stadium on the final night.
Before then, though, he has a title to chase – and Emmanouil Karalis has been getting increasingly close.
The Greek vaulter has enjoyed the best season of his career, raising his national record to 6.20m in Zurich, where Duplantis needed 6.25m to beat him. That came a week after Karalis cleared 6.16m behind Duplantis's 6.21m in Lausanne.
Most recently, Karalis claimed his first Diamond League title in Brussels with 6.12m. Duplantis had intended to compete but withdrew after the warm-up as a precaution when tightness in his leg resurfaced, choosing not to risk aggravating the problem with Budapest looming.
That fitness question adds an extra edge to a contest Duplantis would otherwise be expected to dominate.
Kurtis Marschall knows better than most that the world record-holder can be beaten. The Australian ended Duplantis's near-three-year winning streak in Stockholm in June and has also cleared 6.00m this year.
Sondre Guttormsen, meanwhile, has reached 6.06m in 2026 and arrives fresh from finishing second to Karalis at the Diamond League Final. Multiple global medallists Sam Kendricks and Christopher Nilsen add further depth to an eight-man field packed with major championship pedigree.
But if Duplantis is fully fit, the question remains the familiar one: can anyone push him high enough to threaten another record?
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
Title key: 🏅 Olympic champion, 🌍 world champion, 💎 Diamond League champion
