OMEGA Moment of the Meeting: MR for Mondo

Big things are always expected when Mondo Duplantis hits the runway in the men’s pole vault, and more often than not, the Swedish star tends to deliver.

Duplantis broke the world record three times last season – twice in the Wanda Diamond League – and ahead of the two opening meetings of the season in Xiamen and Keqiao, there was already talk of him making history again with the next height of 6.28m.

As it turned out, Duplantis’ victory in Xiamen was modest by his standards, with the Olympic champion “only” clearing 5.92m in tricky conditions.

He was back to his best a week later in Keqiao however, taking advantage of a warm, still evening to soar over six metres once again.

Having cleared 6.01m with just his third jump, Duplantis then soared over 6.11m to secure victory, the Shanghai/Keqiao meeting record and the OMEGA Moment of the Meeting.

“It felt good. A lot less sloppy than Xiamen for sure. It’s early in the season, just trying to get everything figured out,” he said.

Ever the dreamer, Duplantis then made one attempt at the world record height of 6.28m. Despite not clearing that bar, he came away in a bullish mood.

“I really liked my last attempt at 6.28m, especially given where I felt my legs were at. It didn’t feel amazing the jump or the run, but I still felt quite close to it. So that’s nice.”

Watch the Shanghai/Keqiao OMEGA Moment of the Meeting