For two years, Armand Duplantis tried in vain to break the world record.

Then he came to Belgrade and took off like never before.

That was two weeks ago at the indoor meeting.

Olympic champion Duplantis, known in the wide world of athletics and in the small world of Sweden as Mondo, flew 6.19 meters in his 55th attempt, making it the world's strongest performance for the third time.

Only thirteen days and three jumps later he set the next record on Sunday.

Michael Reinsch

Correspondent for sports in Berlin.

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The last action of the World Indoor Championships, which again took place in Belgrade, was Duplantis' incredibly fast run-up, the piercing and powerful bending of the hard stick, the elegant swing feet first towards the roof of the hall, headlong on the stretching stick, the seemingly weightless one Push off from the arms and then, at the tipping point, narrowly overcoming the bar at a height of 6.20 meters, whose trembling he observed skeptically due to a light touch while flying down until sinking into the mat.

Over the head of a Girarr bull

In short: a pole vault like never before.

Imagine this: the lanky athlete, who appears to have hunched his shoulders, could leap over the head of a 1.5 ton bull giraffe while leaving at least eight inches of space.

With his performance, the 22-year-old American, who competes for the Swedish association thanks to his mother's origins, stole the show from the other two world record holders at the World Indoor Championships, the Venezuelan triple jumper Yulimar Rojas (15.74 meters) and the American hurdle sprinter Grant Holloway (7.29 seconds).

Duplantis also won the audience, who cheered the victory of the Serbian long jumper Ivana Vuleta (formerly Spanovic) with the only seven-meter jump this winter (7.06).

First he revealed that he had celebrated the world record two weeks earlier with a sip of slivovitz, then he tried his hand at a traditional Serbian dance, the kolo.

"I believe Belgrade will always have a special place in my heart," he said over the hall microphone.

As obvious as Duplantis' delight in audience and society was, this does not necessarily mean that he is a romantic in contrast to the calculating Sergej Bubka.

In his era three decades ago, he improved the world records in the hall and in the stadium, which were still different at the time, centimeter by centimeter a total of 35 times - and was rewarded by the organizer with a bonus each time.

If Duplantis wants to remain active as long as Bubka, he still has fourteen years to go;

the Ukrainian only ended his career at the age of 36. In addition, the terms of the contract that connects Duplantis with the German sporting goods manufacturer Puma improve with every title and with every record of the athlete.

This year, Duplantis has the chance to increase his salary at both the Eugene World Championships and the European Championships in Munich.

He wants to jump higher anyway.