Swedish superstar finally clears 6.19m as he makes history less than two weeks before World Indoor Championships

Mondo Duplantis finally broke his own pole vault world record after clearing 6.19m at the Belgrade Indoor Meeting –  a World Indoor Tour silver event – in the same city which hosts the World Indoor Championships in just under a fortnight.

The 22-year-old Olympic and European champion set the previous record of 6.18m at the Müller Indoor Grand Prix in Glasgow two years ago and it wasn’t a surprise to see him better that height in the Serbian capital.

That boy can fly ?️

Mondo Duplantis has now cleared 6.17m, 6.18m and 6.19m and he's 22 ? pic.twitter.com/ioPoDc9EAl

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) March 7, 2022

“I think I’ve tried 6.19m 50 times,” Duplantis told World Athletics. “It’s been a long time coming. I’ve never had a height that has given me that much trouble and I’ve been jumping for a very long time. It’s a very good feeling because it’s been really hard fought over these past two years to try and get over that next barrier.

“I don’t think this is the highest that I’m ever going to jump. There’s going to be a lot more to come. This [Belgrade] is a really good place to jump for championships and I’m going to try and put something else higher up there.

“A height like 6.19m demands perfection and all the numbers have to be perfect. I just figured it out on that last attempt! I’m buzzing to finally get over it.”

For weeks he has threatened to clear 6.19m but every time the bar agonisingly fell. At ISTAF Indoor Berlin on February 4, the organisers actually set the pyro off because they thought that Duplantis had broken the world record. Unfortunately, he knocked the bar on the way down and he would have to wait.

Duplantis, who has already become world indoor tour champion for 2022, has had an incredible start to the year and has so far cleared 6.02m, 6.03m, 6.04m, 6.05m and now 6.19m.

All the emotions come out when you break a world record ?

Relief, ecstasy and joy in @mondohoss600 ? pic.twitter.com/UtzflOr4vN

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) March 7, 2022

Only 14 men have cleared 6.00m indoors and the Swede has now recorded heights of 6.17m, 6.18m and 6.19m.

Breaking his own world record was quite frankly more when than if.

Duplantis now sets his eyes on becoming world indoor champion in Belgrade later this month and he’ll go into the event as the overwhelming favourite.

It’s safe to say the Swede has more chance of breaking his own world record and clearing 6.20m than failing to strike gold and that just emphasises the impact he has made in pole vault. He may well end up transcending athletics.