When the World Athletics Athlete of the Year awards are distributed in Monaco at the end of this month, pole vault superstar Mondo Duplantis will once again be among the hopefuls.
The Swedish star was announced as an awards finalist for the sixth year in a row this week, after a year in which he increased his world record to 6.31m and broke five meeting records in the Wanda Diamond League.
Yet 2026 will also go down as one of the toughest seasons in Duplantis’ record-breaking career.
More often than not in the last few years, the question in the men’s pole vault was not whether Duplantis would win, but how high he would jump.
That all changed in 2026, as a new wave of challengers led by Greek star Manolo Karalis began to threaten his dominance.
That led to a vintage year in the pole vault, with countless world record attempts, a string of shock results and one of the most enthralling rivalries in the history of the sport.
Duplantis started the year in his usual imperious form, clearing 6.31m in Uppsala in February to break the world record for the 15th time.
He carried that form into the early Diamond League season, setting a new meeting record of 6.12m at the season opener in Shanghai/Keqiao in May.
The first sign of trouble came in Stockholm, where Duplantis slumped to a shock first Diamond League defeat in three years.
In front of a stunned home crowd, Duplantis failed to clear 5.90m, allowing Australian rival Kurtis Marschall his first ever Diamond League win.
The result shocked even Marschall himself, who admitted later that he had “assumed I would never win a Diamond League” amid Duplantis’ dominance.
With Duplantis taking a mid-season break for his wedding in June, Marschall soon grabbed a second victory in Oslo before Karalis picked up his first win of the season in Doha.
Duplantis then bounced back with an impressive meeting record in Paris, before suffering another surprise defeat to Sam Kendricks in London.
It was in August, though, that the men’s pole vault really began to heat up as Karalis launched a sustained and serious challenge to Duplantis’ hegemony.
It began in Lausanne, where the two men delivered a battle for the ages at the city event on the shores of Lake Geneva.
After Karalis made his highest ever outdoor clearance at 6.16m, Duplantis had to dig deep to clear 6.21m and cling on to victory.
It was the first time ever that two men had cleared 6.10m in the same competition, but Duplantis and Karalis were just getting started.
The Greek underlined his intention to take the fight to Duplantis a week later in Silesia, making three attempts to match the Swede at 6.20m after both men cleared 6.00m.
Then, in Zurich, the world number two came within millimetres of delivering one of the greatest upsets in athletics history.
In another nailbiting contest in the Letzigrund Stadium, both men soared over 6.10m before proceeding to push each other to the limits of their abilities.
After Duplantis cleared 6.15m, Karalis bounced back with a first-time clearance at 6.20m, setting a new personal best and breaking his own Greek record.
Duplantis then responded with 6.25m, setting up a decisive showdown at the world record height of 6.32m.
While world record attempts have become routine for Duplantis in recent years, this was one of the few times in history that two men had seriously threatened the world record at the same time.
There was a heart-in-mouth moment for Duplantis when Karalis’ seemed to clear the bar on his second attempt, only to brush it on the way down.
Though the Swede once again walked away the winner, he had never come so close to losing his world record.
The battle set up a hotly anticipated showdown at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels the following week. “It’s gonna be hot: be there or be square!” said Karalis.
As it turned out, Duplantis was forced to withdraw from the final after a muscle strain during the warm-up, denying him the chance to compete for a sixth successive Diamond League title.
Karalis delivered fireworks nonetheless. Spurred on by a sizeable Greek fanbase in the Brussels crowd, the world number two cleared 6.12m to break Duplantis’ meeting record and win his first ever Diamond Trophy.
Karalis delivered fireworks nonetheless. Spurred on by a sizeable Greek contingent in the Brussels crowd, the world number two jumped 6.12m to break Duplantis’ MR and win his first ever Diamond Trophy.
“As a kid, I watched the Diamond League in my living room. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would one day hold the trophy” he said.
A milestone victory for Karalis’ career, the win also marked a watershed moment for the men’s pole vault.
Mondo Duplantis may still be the undisputed king. But from now on, the Swedish superstar will have to fight to keep his throne.
