Sweden’s Olympic, world and European pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis distinguished his own showcase meeting on home soil at Uppsala by producing his best-ever season opener with a mighly leap of 6.10m.
The 23-year-old phenomenon, who raised his own world record to 6.21m last summer when winning at the World Athletics Championships, attracted ten of the best pole vaulters in the world to his home ground.
With the pole vault located centrally in the IFU Arena, atmospheric music and lighting created a memorable experience for the crowds on both sides of the stands, with all competitors running towards a bar behind which was a huge banner proclaiming: The Sky Is The Limit.
Once again Duplantis made that aspiration reality as he delighted his fans with successive first-time clearances at 5.67m, 5.82m and 5.91m before requiring two efforts to clear 6.00m.
That was enough to win him the competition ahead of the dogged effort of the USA’s KC Lightfoot who went over 5.91m at his second attempt but could proceed no further.
Duplantis moved straight on up to the significant staging post of 6.10m, clearing it at his third attempt to set a meeting record and earn the winner’s prize of $10,000.
Third place went to world bronze medallist Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines, who equalled his national indoor record with a clearance of 5.91m, but lost out to Lightfoot on countback.
Meanwhile in the other World Athletics Indoor Tour Challenger meeting going on in Sweden on Thursday night, the Gothenburg Games, saw home long jumper Thobias Montler, twice European indoor silver medallist, win with 8.19m.
That replicated the 26-year-old European and world indoor silver medallist’s winning effort in Sätra, Sweden last weekend and underlined his potential for a third successive podium place at next month’s European Athletics Indoor Championships in Istanbul.
Home runner Andreas Kramer, the 2018 European 800 metres silver medallist, earned an emphatic win in 1:45.90. Second place went to Ireland’s double European 800m bronze medallist Mark English, who clocked 1:47.62.
In the men’s high jump, world bronze medallist Andriy Protsenko of Ukraine won with 2.20m from Sweden’s Fabian Delryd, who cleared 2.17m.
Salome Kora of Switzerland won the women’s 60m in 7.27.
Sweden’s Henrik Larsson won the men’s 60m in 6.56sec from Poland’s Oliwer Wdowik, who clocked 6.65. Another home victory went to Tilde Johansson who won the women's long jump with 6.63m while Azeddine Habz of France won the men’s 1500m in 3:38.93.