Mondo Duplantis makes history at Diamond League but fails with world record bid

Olympic icon Mondo Duplantis was unable to break his own world record at the last Diamond League meeting of the year – but still created history.

The 24-old Swedish pole vaulter stunned the globe at Paris 2024 by not only becoming a double gold medal winner, but breaking the world record for a ninth time.

He wasn’t finished there, though, and broke it again – by one centimetre – at a Diamond League meeting in Chorzow, Poland in August, taking it to 6.26m.

And Duplantis had it back in his sights in Brussels on Friday night.

However, his recent efforts – as he becomes one of the world’s most famous athletes – have stopped him from breaking it an 11th time.

In Belgium, he won his fourth Diamond League trophy despite ‘feeling terrible’ – jumping 6.11m, 15cm off his current best.

“My legs felt terrible tonight and I’m just really tired. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks,” he explained.

Duplantis’ fame saw him take up the opportunity to showcase his speed on the track as he took on 400m hurdles world record holder Karsten Warholm in a 100m exhibition race following the summer Olympics.

The Swede romped home in first, setting a personal best time of 10.37 seconds, while his friendly rival came second, also with a PB of 10.47.

But that event nine days ago before the Zurich Diamond League, took it out of him.

He continued: “The race against Karsten and then I had to jump the day after. That took a lot more from my body than I expected.

“With 6.11m I got a good result, but the world record wasn’t meant to be tonight. It’s not easy to do better each time. Everything needs to come together.”

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It may have been a disappointment but Duplantis’ efforts didn’t go unrewarded.

The 6.11m was still a meeting record, beating his own by one centimetre.

Meanwhile, he was the only man to hit the 6m mark with Greek rival Emmanouil Karalis only reaching 5.82m.

As well as that, his victory ensured he completed the entire season, across all competitions, unbeaten.

As well as his Olympics win, he claimed gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championship in Glasgow and won eight Diamond League events.

Now, though, he intends to enjoy the end of a brilliant year.

“Now it’s time to celebrate my beautiful season: I will drink some good Belgian beers tonight for sure.”