Sweden's Armand Duplantis shattered his own pole vault world record in a World Athletics Indoor Tour Silver meeting in Clermont-Ferrand in France. While the previous record set by the Olympic champion was of 6.21 metres, he added one more centiremetre to the tally and cleared the 6.22 metres mark at the All-Star Perche.
The reigning Diamond League champion described it as an out of the body experience. What made his achievement all the more astonishing that he had hit the bar in his first two attempts to hear the height but broke the world record in his third attempt much to the delight of the fans present at the venue.
The video of his record-breaking attempt was shared by the official handle of the French Athletics Federation.
"🤩 Phenomenal! 🇸🇪 Armand Duplantis is on top of the world in Clermont-Ferrand, rising to 6 , 2 ,2 ⃣ m! We will soon have to raise the ceiling! 😱," their caption in French roughly translates to.
Here is the video:
"When you have moments like this, when the energy is so high, and you're going down there for the record, it feels like levitating, it feels like my body never even touched the ground the whole jump," the 23-year-old said as quoted in an AFP report.
It is pertinent to note that the tournament is organised by the 2012 London Olympics champion Renaud Lavillenie and Duplantis was also quick to note that the achievement felt "overwhelming" to him because the French pole-vaulter meant a lot to him.
Duplantis' previous record was set at the World Championships in Eugene in July last year where he had won the gold for his performance.
The jump which has now made a new world record was the 60th time in his career that he has managed a jump of over 6.00 metre. Fresh from a record-breaking effort, Duplantis though is set to miss the European Indoor Championships in March in order to be best prepared to defend his title as the World outdoor champion.