What more is there to say about Mondo Duplantis that hasn’t already been said yet? The best pole vaulter in history continued building his legendary resume with another Olympic gold and another world record in Paris tonight. The 24-year-old Swede took down an incredibly talented field that included Sam Kendricks – who won his second Olympic medal, taking home silver with a mark of 5.95m – and Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis, who won bronze with a clearance of 5.90m.

Here’s what you need to know:

- Most of the field was jumping really well early, as six men had one miss or fewer through 5.85m. However, the competition was never close. Duplantis didn’t miss a bar until he had already won the gold by 15cm, and he passed at 5.90m. Only three other men in the field cleared that height, and he passed it (before clearing 5.95m by a mile on the first attempt).

- The battle for the podium spots behind Duplantis was interesting, as it always is. A big player was missing after reigning Olympic silver medalist Chris Nilsen went out in qualifying, but the remaining men put on a show.

- Kendricks looked great throughout the whole competition. He easily cleared the first few heights before missing his first attempt at 5.85m. The two-time World champ easily shook that off however, passing to 5.90m and clearing that on his first try. His next vault was a clearance of 5.95m that proved to be the vault that secured him silver. It’s a great return to the global stage for Kendricks’s first outdoor championship since he won gold in Doha.

- Karalis came into this meet with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He finished fourth in Tokyo, but failed to make the final in either Eugene or Budapest. Whatever chip was there has to be gone by now, as he backed up his bronze in Glasgow with the third best jump of his life, 5.90m, to secure Olympic bronze. EJ Obiena of the Philippines, who had landed on the podium at both of the last two World Championships, also cleared 5.90m, but a clean sheet for Karalis and one miss at 5.80m for Obiena proved to be the difference here.

By the numbers:

- This is the ninth time that Duplantis has broken the world record. Now that’s still a far cry from the numbers Sergey Bubka put up during his career, but Duplantis has brought that record 11cm higher than where it was when Bubka retired.

- Duplantis has won 28 of his last 29 competitions, dating back to September 2022. He hasn’t lost a major championship since Doha. Since those World Championships, there have been 73 instances of men clearing at least 6.00m in competition. Duplantis is responsible for 59 of them.

- Only two men have gone back-to-back in pole vault at the Olympics: Bob Richards in 1952 and 1956, and now Duplantis.

- Kendricks is the first American man to win two Olympic medals in this event in over 50 years. The last to do so was Bob Seagren, who took gold in 1968 and silver in 1972.

- Karalis is the first Greek man to win an Olympic pole vault medal since Georgios Roubanis in 1956.

- Obiena is only the second man in Olympic history to clear 5.90m and finish off the podium. Michael Stolle finished fourth in Sydney 2000, in a competition where the top four finishers all went out at 5.90m, yet no medals or positions were shared.

Full results:

1. Armand Duplantis - 6.25 WR

2. Sam Kendricks - 5.95

3. Emmanouil Karalis - 5.90

4. Ernest John Obiena - 5.90

5. Ersu Şaşma - 5.85 SB

6. Kurtis Marschall - 5.85

7. Bokai Huang - 5.80

8. Sondre Guttormsen - 5.80

9. Oleg Zernikel - 5.70

9. Bo Kanda Lita Baehre - 5.70

11. Menno Vloon - 5.70

12. Valters Kreišs - 5.50

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