Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis immediately improved his own world record for pole vault at the first Diamond League of the season in Xiamen, China. The Swede went over 6m24.
Since the Diamond League in Eugene in September 2023, Duplantis’ world record stood at 6m23. So he added one centimeter in Xiamen. A promising start to the Olympic season, to say the least. Ben Broeders, Duplantis’ regular training buddy, fared less well in Xiamen. He got stuck in sixth place and 5m42. His national record has stood at 5m85 for two years.
With Thomas Carmoy, a second Belgian competed in the high jump in Xiamen, but that was also not a success. He did not exceed his starting height of 2m15. His personal record has been 2m29 since last year. The victory on Saturday went to the American Shelby McEwen with 2m27.
