(Photo World Athletics/Gladys Chai von der Laage)
The only downside to breaking a world record so early in the season with such seeming ease is that it brings with it a certain level of expectation for all that follows.
But if Armand Duplantis felt any pressure following his 6.17m world record in Torun last week, he certainly didn’t let it show in Glasgow at the fifth stop on the World Athletics Indoor Tour on Saturday.
If anything, his form looked better than ever. Aside from needing two tries at 5.75m, he cleared every other height on his first attempt. With the competition won at 5.84m, he popped over 6.00m with room to spare and then upped the bar to 6.18m.
Even that, incredibly, looked an extremely comfortable clearance.
So now, with two world records under his belt and clearly capable of going higher, many fans are expecting the 20-year-old Swedish athlete to follow in the footsteps of legendary vaulter Sergey Bubka by increasing the world record by one centimetre at a time.
It was something Duplantis was asked about on the eve of the competition, and then again following his record-breaking achievement in Glasgow.
“It’s unfair to think I’ll break it every time I compete,” he said. “I don’t think about it too much. You don’t need to break a record to win every comp.
“I want to win and that’s always the goal, but firstly you’ve got to win, and if I have the energy left, then I’ll crank it up a bit.
“I don’t want to put a limit on myself,” he added. “I feel good and I don’t see why I would peak at 20 years old.”
Duplantis has two more competitions left this indoor season: the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Lievin on 19 February and the ‘All Star Perche’ meeting in Clermont Ferrand on 23 February.
But despite his exploits so far this year, the big goal, he says, is the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
“Olympic gold is the pinnacle in athletics,” he said. “It’s a big goal of mine for sure.”
Multiple pole vault world record-breakers
Several men have set more than one world record in the pole vault. But few have managed two within such a short space of time.
Charles Hoff (NOR)
World records: four
Shortest gap between records: 45 days (13 Aug – 27 Sep 1923)
Cornelius Warmerdam (USA)
World records: three
Shortest gap between records: 362 days (29 Jun 1940 – 26 Jun 1941)
Brian Sternberg (USA)
World records: two
Shortest gap between records: 41 days (27 Apr – 7 Jun 1963)
John Pennel (USA)
World records: four
Shortest gap between records: 19 days (5 Aug – 24 Aug 1963)
Fred Hansen (USA)
World records: two
Shortest gap between records: 42 days (13 Jun – 25 Jul 1964)
Bob Seagren (USA)
World records: four
Shortest gap between records: 459 days (10 Jun 1967 – 12 Sep 1968)
Wolfgang Nordwig (GDR)
World records: two
Shortest gap between records: 78 days (17 Jun – 3 Sep 1970)
Kjell Isaksson (SWE)
World records: three
Shortest gap between records: seven days (8 Apr – 15 Apr 1972)
David Roberts (USA)
World records: two
Shortest gap between records: 451 days (28 Mar 1975 – 22 Jun 1976)
Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz (POL)
World records: two
Shortest gap between records: 98 days (11 May – 30 Jul 1980)
Thierry Vigneron (FRA)
World records: five
Shortest gap between records: 28 days (1 Jun – 29 Jun 1980)
Rodion Gataullin (URS)
World records: two (indoors)
Shortest gap between records: 13 days (22 Jan – 4 Feb 1989)
Sergey Bubka (URS/UKR)
World records: 35 (17 outdoors, 18 indoors)
Shortest gap between records: four days (15 Mar – 19 Mar – 23 Mar 1991)
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