In Pictures: World Record holder Mondo Duplantis ends Diamond League meets in China on a high with breathtaking performances

Pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis made a brilliant start to his 2024 season at the first two Diamond League meetings of the year held in China.

Duplantis, who opened his outdoor 2024 season at the Xiamen Diamond League 2024 on April 20, scripted history once again as he broke the world record for the eighth time at the Xiamen Egret Stadium with a clearance of 6.24m.

The 24-year-old then participated at the Shanghai/Suzhou Diamond League 2024 where he achieved a new meet record with 6.00m. Despite coming very close to setting a new world record at the event held at Suzhou Olympic Sports Centre, he couldn’t successfully touch the 6.25m mark in his three attempts.

The Swede shared pictures from his record-breaking performances registered in China on his Instagram handle. He captioned it:

“A W and another jump over 6m! Great pair of meets here in 🇨🇳🫡”

In the pictures, one can see him holding a small Diamond League trophy. In addition, he was captured with his girlfriend Desiré Inglander, and 56-year-old retired pole vaulter Jeff Hartwig

After his meet-record performance in Suzhou, Mondo spoke about his performance at the pole vault event, stating (via CitiusMag on YouTube):

“It was a great competition. It's always a little bit of some different nerves when you're coming off a big jump like the world record last week because you want to kind of retaliate and want to defend, kind of a little bit, what you did last week.”

He added:

"So, it was very important for me to come and jump well today and make sure that I got the win over a tough group of guys. Of course, I'm happy with that. I never complain with a jump over six meters in a Diamond League win.

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Mondo Duplantis bagged the Diamond League 2023 title

Mondo Duplantis of Sweden competes in the Men's Pole Vault during the 2023 Prefontaine Classic and Wanda Diamond League Final. (Photo by Ali Gradischer/Getty Images)

Mondo Duplantis clinched his third overall Diamond League title in 2023, having previously won in the prestigious series in 2021 and 2022. At the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, the Swedish-American pole vaulter smashed the world record for the seventh time with a jump of 6.23m in the Diamond League 2023 finals.

Earlier, the Olympic champion had claimed the 2021 and 2022 titles with a clearance of 6.06m and 6.07m marks, setting the meet records, in the finals that took place in Zürich.

Mondo Duplantis will be aiming for his fourth Diamond League title in the 2024 season after winning the first two meets of the series.