With its catchy Eurobeat backing track, Mondo Duplantis announced his musical talents to the world with his single Bop at the end of February.
It charted at 31 in the Swedish single heights and, while he’s unlikely to hit the musical heights of his compatriots Abba, there seems to be no end to how high he can go in the world of pole vault and at the World Athletics Indoor Championships Nanjing 25 he targets a third consecutive world indoor title.
When he announced his debut single, there were a few quick enough to quip in response on social media that he was bored of records so was now instead making them, an official World Athletics report said.
But he quickly put that to bed as he further eclipsed his own mind-bending world pole vault record with a clearance of 6.27m in Clermont-Ferrand. It was the 11th world record of his remarkable career, and all the more impressively he pulled it off at the first time of asking.
He quipped after returning to the day job: “Hopped out of the studio for a sec,” perhaps in response to those questioning his commitment to athletics with his new musical ventures. He was a quarter of a metre clear of his closest rival to highlight just how much of a league of his own one of the greatest athletes of all time finds himself in.
Another record seems imminently attainable for an athlete who loves to break such marks on the biggest of stages having missed an attempt at world record No.12 and a 6.28m clearance at the recent Mondo Classic.
Unless something goes seriously awry, it feels like rest of the field will be squabbling for second, a reality they have clearly grown accustomed to even if they might not necessarily like it.
It is to their great credit that they should holler and hoop at every Duplantis success on the pole vault runaway, perhaps hoping some of that greatness will rub off on them.
The closest to Duplantis this season has been Emmanouil Karalis, who improved his Greek record to 6.02m in Clermont-Ferrand, with one other person over six metres in 2025: US athlete Christopher Nilsen.
Nilsen, though, is absent from the 56-strong US team for the championships, instead the sole US spot has been snapped up by Sam Kendricks.
Kendricks is a two-time world champion outdoors and was the silver medallist behind Duplantis in Paris. Should his close friend have an off day he would love to win a global indoor title having three times had to make do with silver.
Others looking to rise to the occasion include home favourite Li Chenyang, who cleared a Chinese record of 5.85m last month, and Australia’s world bronze medallist Kurtis Marschall.