Weekly Recap: Duplantis Breaks Pole Vault World Record with 6.31m

With the World Athletics Indoor Championships on the horizon, coming up from March 20–22, 2026, the final world rankings have been set, and many of the world’s top athletes have shown that they’re in peak form.

Arguably, nobody is in better form than Mondo Duplantis, who is five days out from his world record jump of 6.31 meters in the pole vault. Could we possibly be greedy enough to expect another world record in less than a week?

Here are some of the top performances from the past week, and a look at the top performances in each event heading into the World Indoor Championships.

The Oval Update Athlete of the Week: Mondo Duplantis Breaks World Record with 6.31 Meters

We’re a little over two weeks out from Emmanouil Karalis’ 6.17-meter pole vault performance that moved him into number two of all time. Previously, we wrote that his performance changed the dynamics of the men’s pole vault and might challenge Mondo Duplantis’ dominance in the event.

Well, now we feel a little silly. At the Mondo Classic this past Thursday in Sweden, Duplantis responded by breaking the world record again with a vault of 6.31 meters in only his second time competing this season. He opened with a 6.06-meter jump while battling food poisoning last month.

This Thursday in his home country of Sweden, Duplantis cleared 5.65 meters, 5.90 meters, and 6.08 meters before requesting the bar at 6.31 meters for a world record attempt. He cleanly cleared 6.31 meters on his first attempt before retiring for the day, once again leaving wondering how many more centimeters (meters?) he might be holding in reserve.

Other Performances This Week

It’s hard to compete with a world record, but with the NCAA finals taking place in the United States, we did see a handful of athletes move into the top three in their respective events in the world top lists.

In the men’s 60-meter, Jelani Watkins ran 6.46 seconds, the third fastest time in the world this year. Meanwhile, Garrett Kaalun became the first American to break the 20.00-second barrier in history, winning the national title with 19.95 seconds. On the women’s side, Adaejah Hodge established a world lead in the 200-meter with 22.22.

In the 400-meter, Ella Onojuvwe ran the world lead with 50.28 seconds, just ahead of Dejanea Oakley’s second fastest time in the world of 50.47 seconds.

Ja’Kobe Tharp established a new world lead in the 60-meter hurdles with 7.32 seconds to win the NCAA title and set a new collegiate record. The time moved him up to the number three spot all-time and was only 0.05 seconds off the world record.

Andy Hechavarría set the second farthest jump in the world this year in the men’s triple jump with 17.34 meters, while NCAA champion Jonathan Seremes established the third farthest jump in the world this year with 17.25 meters.

World Athletics Indoor Championships Coming Up This Week

The World Athletics Indoor Championships will be held from March 20–22, 2026, with events on the track spanning from 60 meters to 3,000 meters. All four jumps will be included, but only the shot put for the throws.

Here’s a look at the world lead in each event heading into the championships: