Paris (AFP)
Armand Duplantis of Sweden, only 20, broke the pole vault world record for Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie with a 6.17m jump during the indoor meeting in Torun (Poland) on Saturday.
European champion 2018 and vice-world champion in October in Doha (Qatar), Duplantis crossed 6.17 m on his second attempt to clear the 6.16 m mark of Renaud Lavillenie established in February 2014 in Ukraine.
Born and raised in the United States, but representing Sweden in international competition, his mother's country, Duplantis entered the legend of athletics by having jumped higher than the Ukrainian "Tsar" Sergei Bubka (6.15 m in 1993) and that the 2012 French Olympic champion, still active and in full competition himself in Rouen in France.
In a dazzling form, Armand Duplantis announced the color on Tuesday, almost missing already passing 6.17 m at the meeting in Düsseldorf (Germany), won with a better jump to 6 m.
On Saturday, he flew over the Torun competition by crossing all of his bars on the first try with a huge margin, even at 5.92 m then 6.01 m.
Armand Duplantis, a veritable pole vault who holds numerous unofficial world records in the youth categories, has been multiplying his exploits for two years. In 2018 he became senior European champion after a fantastic competition in Berlin in August thanks to a jump to 6.05 m.
Last October, after a season where he had crossed the legendary 6 m mark several times, he became vice-world champion in Doha (Qatar) with a jump to 5.97 m, beaten by the 'American Sam Kendricks.
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