He had the gold before he even attempted the record. That's how far ahead of the field Mondo Duplantis is right now.
On September 11, 2026, Sweden's Armand "Mondo" Duplantis cleared 6.20m to win the men's pole vault at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest — a clean, perfect scorecard that had the title locked up before he turned his attention to the bar most of the field wasn't even attempting.
A Perfect Night, Then a Reach for More
Duplantis went through his opening heights without a single miss, and once 6.20m secured the win, he did what he almost always does when the podium is no longer in question: he asked for the bar to go up, attempting a world record of 6.32m. It didn't happen on a chilly Friday evening in Budapest — but the attempt alone was the point. Second place, Greece's Emmanouil Karalis, cleared 6.15m and had no real answer for it. Norway's Sondre Guttormsen took third at 5.95m.
He Wrote His Own Walkout Music
There's a detail in this one that's hard to script: Duplantis vaulted to the sound of "Gold," the official anthem of the Ultimate Championship — a song he wrote and recorded himself. World Athletics had unveiled him as the event's inaugural "Ultimate Star" ahead of the meet, effectively building the championship's identity around him before he'd jumped a single height.
What This Adds Up To
The Ultimate title now sits alongside two Olympic golds, three world outdoor titles, and four world indoor titles on a resume that, at 26, still has years left to grow. He's already reset the pole vault world record more times than anyone in the sport's history — the number now stands at 15, with Friday's near-miss at 6.32m a reminder that he's still actively hunting the sixteenth, not just defending what he already has.
