Emmanouil Karalis broke the Greek pole vault record again, clearing 6.20 metres on his first attempt at the Zurich Diamond League, where he once again competed against Mondo Duplantis, the world’s leading pole vaulter.
Duplantis, however, took the win after clearing 6.25 metres, the best result of the competition.
Karalis, known as “Manolo,” then attempted to break Duplantis’s world record by clearing 6.32 metres, but failed on all three attempts. Duplantis also attempted the same height but was unable to clear it.
Karalis had broken the Greek outdoor record just eight days earlier, clearing 6.16 metres.
The competition was one of the strongest in the history of the event, with the gap between Karalis and Duplantis continuing to narrow.
Competitions featuring the two athletes have increasingly become a two-man contest above six metres. This time, Norway’s Sondre Guttormsen also cleared six metres, leaving Karalis and Duplantis as the only two still competing at 6.10 metres.
Both Karalis and Duplantis cleared 6.10 metres on their first attempts. Duplantis then cleared 6.15 metres on his first attempt, while Karalis skipped that height and moved the bar directly to 6.20 metres.
Source: Gazzetta
