Sweden’s Armand Duplantis set a world pole vault record of 6.18 metres at an indoor meeting in Glasgow on Saturday, adding one centimetre to the record he set in Poland last week.

Duplantis, the 20-year-old who won silver at last year’s world championships in Doha, cleared the bar with something to spare.

The old record of 6.16m set by French vaulter Renaud Lavillenie had stood since 2014.

Duplantis opened on Saturday at 5.50m and got over 5.75m on his second try. Two-time world champion Sam Kendricks led at that point, but the US athlete exited the competition at the next height, 5.84m.

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The Swede sailed over on his first attempt. With no one else left in the competition, the 20-year-old then flew over 6m.

Duplantis had the bar moved up to 6.18m and one attempt was all he needed as he sailed well clear of the bar.

“This was such a great competition,” said Duplantis, according to AFP. “There was such great energy the crowd was giving me and I really thrive off that.”

“I feel good on the runway, strong and fast and working the poles I have really well. The Olympics is the biggest thing and that is where I want to have my best competition this season. I try to go 110 percent every time,” the Swedish star is additionally quoted as saying by European Athletics.

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“It is a complicated event, so many things going into making a great jump, so many years of hard work.”

World pole vault progression (courtesy: European Athletics)

6.07m Sergey Bubka, Shizuoka (6 May 1991)
6.08m Sergey Bubka, Moscow (9 June 1991)
6.09m Sergey Bubka, Formia (8 July 1991)
6.10m Sergey Bubka, Malmo (5 August 1991)
6.11m Sergey Bubka, Dijon (13 June 1992)
6.12m Sergey Bubka, Padua (30 August 1992)
6.13m Sergey Bubka, Tokyo (19 September 1992)
6.14m Sergey Bubka, Sestriere (31 July 1994)
6.16m Renaud Lavillenie, Donetsk (15 February 2014)
6.17m Armand Duplantis, Torun (8 February 2020)
6.18m Armand Duplantis, Glasgow (15 February 2020)