Why Mondo Duplantis only improves his world record 1cm at a time despite proving he can go higher
Sweden's Mondo Duplantis entered the history books again after he beat his own world record by 1cm to win Olympic gold in the men's pole vault final.
The 24-year-old, who is the current world outdoor and indoor record holder, secured back-to-back Olympic gold medals on a memorable night at the Stade de France.
To start with, Duplantis breezed past Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis and Team USA's Sam Kendricks when he smashed the Olympic record of 6.03m by jumping 6.10m with ease.
Later on, he failed with his first world record attempt to jump 6.25m – a record he set in April at the Diamond League in China – after his trailing arm brought down the bar.
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And once again, the Swede failed a short time later, when his right knee clipped the bar.
But on the third attempt, Duplantis entered the history books with a 6.25m vault, beating his previous record by 1cm. So why only 1cm when there remains a considerable amount of room between him and the bar?
Duplantis could potentially attempt an even greater world record height but athletes receive a $100,000 bonus each time they break the world record, meaning it would be in his own interests to steadily increase the height.
As reported by Forbes, the caveat is that you only get it one time at the meet you broke it at.
In short, if Duplantis broke the record twice at the meet, he would still only receive $100,000 instead of $200,000.
"An athlete such as Duplantis who recognizes this understands that they can maximize their financial return by waiting to break the world record again," the report adds.
An entire stadium of 80 thousand people cheering to witness history
— The Specifications (@TheSpecificati1) August 5, 2024
only 1 test happening
only 1 athlete competing
Armand Duplantis 🇸🇪 and the highest jump in human history: 6.25m#Worldrecord #Duplantis pic.twitter.com/bbpSuvjQWb
Speaking after he broke another world record, Duplantis said: “What a night. Really there are no words that can explain it. I have no idea what’s going on, I feel like nothing’s even real."
The Swede added: "I can’t even feel my feet, I can’t even feel my body. I’m just on cloud nine. So much goes into this and then you just do it.”
Duplantis proceeded to pay tribute to Turkish pistol shooter Yusuf Dikec after his win; something he said was a dare by Australian pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall.
“What can I say? I just broke a world record at the Olympics, the biggest possible stage for a pole vaulter,” he added.
“The biggest dream since a kid was to break the world record at the Olympics, and I’ve been able to do that in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of.”
Jack Kenmare