Mondo Duplantis now has a new challenger who might be able to end his amazing world record streak after the Ultimate Championship.
Mondo Duplantis has won the first-ever men’s pole vault event at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, but his new rival gave him a real challenge.
Duplantis cleared 6.20 metres to take the gold, just missing a new world record at 6.32 metres. The Swedish star is known for trying to beat the world record by just 1 centimetre at big competitions, and he’s now broken the record 15 times! But he faces strong competition from Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis.
Though born in the USA, Duplantis represents Sweden because of his mother. Since 2021, he’s won every major event – Olympics, World Championships, World Indoors, and European Championships. Simply put, if Duplantis is competing, he usually wins.
Before Duplantis came along, the world record was held by France’s 2012 Olympic champ Renaud Lavillenie, who cleared 6.16 metres in 2014. Since then, Duplantis raised it to 6.31 metres – a height only he seemed able to reach.
Karalis is changing that. The Greek vaulter took bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics with a 5.90-metre jump. Over the past year, he’s made big improvements. After setting a Greek record at 6.08 metres in August 2025, he’s raised it three times, most recently hitting 6.20 metres in Zurich last month.
At the Ultimate Championship, Karalis cleared 6.15 metres. While Duplantis might have won by more if he hadn’t been going for the world record, Karalis’s fast progress could make Duplantis think twice before pushing for extra attempts when they compete closely in the future.
Forbes reports that Duplantis purposely aims to add 1 centimetre to his record each time to space out his world record jumps. Each time a world record is set, the athlete earns $100,000. Since the Ultimate Championship is official, Duplantis tried for the record on Friday.
That payout only happens once per event, which helps explain why Duplantis doesn’t break his record more often. Also, his sponsor Puma offers bonuses when he sets new world records.
When asked about how tough it is to clear such tiny increases, Duplantis told Red Bull in 2025, “It’s such a small difference, but it means more than you’d think. Even one centimetre gets really hard when you reach that level.”