Like Sergey Bubka, the Swede gets hefty bonuses every time he sets a new mark; doing so by the smallest margin possible each time is being financially-smart.

Armand Duplantis, of Sweden, competes in the final of the men’s pole vault at the 15th Gyulai Istvan Memorial Track and Field Hungarian Grand Prix in the National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Tamas Vasvari/MTI via AP)

In July 1985, Sergey Bubka became the first human to cross the 6-metre mark in pole vault, one of the greatest feats in track and field history.

From 5.94 metres, Bubka’s personal best and a world record set in Italy nearly a year earlier, Bubka improved the mark by six centimetres, a gazing-in-awe moment and the last big bump up in the record books.

Bubka then went from 6.01 metres to 6.03 to 6.05 and subsequently pulled off a series of one-centimetre improvements at a time when outdoor and indoor records were counted separately.

The story behind the one-centimetre obsession was a sponsorship deal with Nike that mandated a bonus every time the Ukrainian broke the world record.

Could Bubka have soared higher if he didn’t stick to the centimetre-by-centimetre policy?

It was not beyond him because video evidence of his jumps shows him soaring well over the crossbar.

Current pole vault phenom Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis has taken a leaf out of Bubka’s how-to-break-world-records digest while going well past the marks the latter registered.

The Swedish-American pole vaulter broke the world record for the 13th time – crossing 6.29 metres at the Gyulai István Memorial in Budapest on Tuesday, an improvement of a centimetre over his effort in June that bettered the 6.27m jump in February.

From the first time Duplantis broke the record in February 2020 — jumping 6.17 metres – to 6.29 metres earlier this week — he’s gone about defying gravity one centimeter at a time.

Most times when Duplantis has rewritten the record by a centimetre, there’s enough room between his twisting torso and the crossbar, a sign that he could have taken another attempt immediately afterwards.

But the supremely talented athlete has the confidence of another record-shattering jump being around the corner.

He’s also being financially-smart, like Bubka.

The 25-year-old earns a bonus from his sponsors, the two prominent ones being Puma and Red Bull, every time he breaks a world record.

But they don’t double it if he breaks it at the same competition more than once.

In a month’s time in Tokyo, Duplantis can add to his bank balance and aura. A gold medal at the World Championships fetches $70,000.

In addition, there is a bonus of $100,000 from World Athletics for a world record.

‘Got to make a living’

Earlier this year, Duplantis said a ‘man’s got to make a living’ when asked by former heptathlete Tiara Williams if he gets a bonus every time he breaks a world record.

Armand Duplantis of Sweden, competes in the final of the men’s pole vault at the 15th Gyulai Istvan Memorial Track and Field Hungarian Grand Prix in the National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Tamas Vasvari/MTI via AP)

“It is pretty true. I got to make a living, you know. A man’s got to make a living. Somebody has to do it.

There is a bit of a glitch or whatever you want to say. I gotta do what I got to do.

I see the stuff (talk of him breaking the record by only a centimetre) a little bit, people send it to me. I think that is a good thing.

Not so many people I guess are making, like an abundance of bread in track and field.

So I guess that is a good thing that I can capitalise on things,” he said.

Despite the money and accolades coming in, and after winning everything there is to win – two Olympic gold medals, two World Championship titles, two world indoor titles and four Diamond League Finals – Duplantis still retains the drive to push the limits.

In an interview carried on puma.com, when asked about how high he can go, Duplantis spoke about a crazy height.

This was after he had set the then world record of 6.26 metres in August last year.

“So, we’re at 6,26m right now. It’s crazy because if you had told me this a few years back, it would have been a pinch-me type of thing.

But then, when you’re in the situation, you adapt to it and it becomes the new normal.

I know what I’m capable of and there’s some more that I can push.

I think that 6.30m is probably the target in the near future, and 6.40m is achievable in the next few years,” Duplantis said.

At the moment, the sky literally seems to be the limit for Duplantis and he’s head and shoulders above the competition.

The Paris Olympics final results are an example of the gulf in class.

Duplantis won gold at 6.25 metres, the only competitor to cross the 6-metre mark.

The next best was Sam Kendricks of the USA at 5.95 metres.

Two years ago at the Budapest World Championships, even when not at his best, Duplantis was a cut above the rest.

He failed to set a world record, dropping the bar twice at 6.23m but still took the gold (6.10m).

In second place was the Philippines’ Ernest John Obiena at 6.00m.

Brother an inspiration

At an age when most children of his age play in neighborhood parks, Duplantis was pole-vaulting.

His parents are top athletes, father Greg a pole vaulter and mother Helena a heptathlete.

The family had set up a pole vault pit in the backyard of their home in Lafayette, Louisiana, where a four-year-old Duplantis first tried his hand at the sport that would make him famous.

Watching his elder brother Andreas jump got Duplantis, six years younger, hooked onto the pole vault.

Armand Duplantis, of Sweden celebrates his victory and world record in the final of the men’s pole vault at the 15th Gyulai Istvan Memorial Track and Field Hungarian Grand Prix in the National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Tamas Vasvari/MTI via AP)

“My eldest brother was my biggest inspiration.

He was my idol and just watching him grow up and be so much better than me – I just wanted to be like him and follow in my brother’s footsteps.

When he was jumping four metres at a time that I was jumping two metres, I just thought that was the most crazy thing and I couldn’t understand how it was possible.

It was super-inspirational and I wanted to keep trying to see what I could do in the sport,” Duplantis was quoted as saying by World Athletics.

The question today is not if Duplantis will go higher but what is his peak.

He wants to keep everyone guessing by raising the bar one centimetre at a time.