Mondo Duplantis 'nearly' broke the world record again at the Shanghai Diamond League 2024

Swedish pole-vaulter Mondo Duplantis sailed to yet another victory courtesy of his superb performance at the Shanghai Diamond League 2024. This is Duplantis' second Diamond League meet win after his Xiamen Diamond League heroics earlier this month.

The Louisiana-born pole vaulter touched the 6.00 mark to clinch the first position in the meet. Even though it was far from his personal record of 6.24m, which he registered during his outing in Xiamen, it was enough to earn him the win. However, Duplantis did make an effort at 6.25, a centimeter higher than the world record set by him, but failed after three attempts.

Belgium's Ben Broeders clinched the second position in the tournament with 5.82m whereas the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze medalist Sam Kendricks grabbed the third position.

After his victory at the tournament, Duplantis elaborated on his thought process going into the meet and his plans for the upcoming days.

"I felt great today, really good. To jump six meters today and complete a very successful tour, I have a lot of good takeaways. I felt a little bit flat today, but still really good. I just feel that conditions have to be perfect for me to jump a world record and I wasn't quite feeling it off the runway tonight."

He further added:

"Now I go back home and train for a few weeks until my next competition in Ostrava."

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Olympic great Michael Johnson raises concerns over the irresistible dominance of Mondo Duplantis in Pole Vault

Mondo Duplantis

Mondo Duplantis has been one of the most successful pole vaulters in the current generation. With four World Championships gold medals already to his name at the age of 24 and an Olympic gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Duplantis has raised the bar really high for his competitors.

However, this clear-cut dominance in the discipline and frequent shots at the world record by Mondo Duplantis has overshadowed the prominence of some of his other colleagues. The four-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Johnson addressed this issue on X (formerly Twitter):

"This is a problem for pole vault. WRs get attention because they’re usually special. The guy breaking them doesn’t make it feel special. Competition gets attention. He has no competition. The problem IS NOT HIS FAULT, but it’s a problem."'

Mondo Duplantis will also be a fan-favorite at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics during which he will be charging for his second gold medal at the mega event. He will next feature at the Ostrava Golden Spike 2024 in May.