For the third time this year and the 13th time overall, Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis set the pole vault world record with a gravity-defying performance at the 2025 István Gyulai Memorial meet in Hungary.
Mondo Duplantis is making the extraordinary seem routine.
The two-time Olympic pole vault champion set the world record for the 13th time overall and third time this year, clearing 6.29 meters to rule the 2025 István Gyulai Memorial meet in Budapest, Hungary.
Duplantis outlasted world no. 2 and Olympic bronze medalist Emmanouil Karallis of Greece, who took silver. Australian jumper Kurtis Marschall rounded out the podium after successfully clearing 5.82 meters.
It wasn’t a flawless night for Duplantis, who opened with a rare early miss at 5.62m before rebounding on his second try. He also needed two attempts to get over 5.82 meters, matching Karallis stride for stride.
Both cleared 6.02 meters but faltered on their first jumps at 6.11m. Duplantis found his form on the second attempt as Karallis did not, bowing out and leaving the Olympic champion alone to chase history.
With the bar set at 6.29 meters, the four-time defending Diamond League champion needed just one more surge of magic — and nailed it on his second try, clinching his 12th tournament victory of the year and another entry in the record books.
This exceptional performance in Budapest was the latest highlight in a remarkable 2025 campaign for Duplantis.
Earlier in the year, he cleared 6.27 meters to win the All Star Perche meet in Clermont-Ferrand, France, before surpassing that mark with a 6.28-meter vault at the Stockholm Diamond League in June, in front of his home crowd.
Back in Olympic Games Paris 2024, he needed to clear 6.10 meters to secure another gold in an event where Filipino pole vaulter EJ Obiena just missed out of a podium finish.
[ALSO READ: No. 1 Armand Duplantis smashes Olympic and world records on his way to second straight gold medal]