Mondo Duplantis earned a $10,000 prize bonus at the Silesia Diamond League, while Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen, despite setting a new world record, did not receive the same. The reason is that Duplantis broke his own world record for the tenth time, whereas Ingebrigtsen broke a 28-year-old record in the 3000m event.
Mondo Duplantis surpassed his previous record, set at the 2024 Paris Olympics, by jumping 6.26 meters in the men’s pole vault. In contrast, Ingebrigtsen clocked 07:17.55 in the 3000m race at the Silesia Diamond League 2024. However, because the previous 3000m record was set in 1996, Ingebrigtsen missed out on the grand bonus by just 19 points.
Interestingly, Duplantis receives a $100,000 bonus each time he breaks a world record. However, there’s a catch. According to Forbes, this bonus can only be earned once per meet. So, even if Duplantis breaks his record twice in one meet, he would still take home only $100,000, not $200,000.
Mondo Duplantis broke the world record by a centimeter, marking the tenth time he has done so, with a jump of 6.26 meters at the Silesia Diamond League. He had just set the previous record a few weeks earlier at the Paris Olympics.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s World Record
On the other hand, Jakob Ingebrigtsen broke the world record in the 3000m event, a record that had stood for 28 years. The previous record was set in 1996 by Kenya’s Daniel Komen. Despite this achievement, Ingebrigtsen fell short of the grand bonus compared to Duplantis. Ingebrigtsen was only 20 points shy of earning the top prize.
Mondo Duplantis’ Performance at the Paris Olympics
Mondo Duplantis entered the Paris Olympics as the reigning world and Olympic champion. His consistency is evident from the fact that he has broken the men’s pole vault world record eight times in the last four years—at least twice every year.
In April 2024, at the Xiamen leg of the IAAF Diamond League, Mondo Duplantis improved his world record by one centimeter to 6.24 meters. Interestingly, he struggled to clear the basic qualification mark of 5.8 meters to qualify for the finals. However, none of the other athletes could clear it either, so Duplantis advanced to the finals, tied with four other pole vaulters at 5.75 meters, securing a top-5 finish.
The final round saw intense competition up to the 5.95-meter mark, which only Mondo Duplantis and Sam Kendricks from the USA managed to clear. The Olympic record of 6.03 meters, set by Thiago Braz at the Rio Olympics in 2016, was on the line, but Duplantis had bigger plans.
He secured the Olympic gold when Kendricks failed to clear the 6-meter mark. Mondo Duplantis then broke the Olympic record by soaring to 6.1 meters in a single attempt. His next goal was to clear 6.25 meters, which he achieved on his third and final attempt, setting a new world record and winning gold in style.
Also Read: Armand Duplantis Breaks Pole Vault World Record Again At Silesia Diamond League
