Armand Duplantis wins Ultimate Pole Vault Championships with $150,000 bonus

The 26-year-old pole vaulter, Olympic and world champion and world record holder in the discipline, thus concludes his season with an unprecedented trophy but will not have improved his world record (6.31 m in March) from the summer, a first since 2021. He beat his Greek rival Emmanouil Karalis on Friday, also author of a solid competition with 6.15 m despite a bad fall into the barrier earlier in the competition, and the Norwegian Sondre Guttormsen (5.95 m).

“If I win at the Ultimate championships, I will have a title that Usain Bolt does not have, which is something rare,” smiled Duplantis ahead of the new competition. It is now done after a competition controlled from A to Z since the Swede cleared all his bars on the first try, with the exception of his world record attempts at 6.32 m.

Skip the ad

Discomforted in his left leg since July and the London meeting, Duplantis has had an impressively consistent end to the season, pushed by Emmanouil Karalis who has certainly not yet managed to beat him but who has never offered him an easy victory.

Imagined by the International Athletics Federation to boost its audiences outside the major championships (Olympics, World Championships), the Ultimates take place from Friday to Sunday with three intense evenings and impressive bonuses for the athletes.

By winning the competition on Friday, Duplantis won $150,000 (129,000 euros), more than double that for a world title ($70,000) and three times more than for a world record. On Saturday, he tried to add the world record bonus to his winnings for the evening, in vain.