He came. He saw. He vaulted.
Once.
That was all Armand Duplantis needed to announce his arrival at Birmingham 2026 on Friday (14). A single clearance at 5.60m. Job done. Final secured. Energy conserved.
In summary
- One jump for Duplantis sufficient
- Swede returns on Sunday aiming for fourth title and possible world record attempt
- World no2 Karalis also through
For the pole vault icon, the serious business comes on Sunday (16).
It was at the Berlin 2018 European Athletics Championships that the Swedish superstar truly burst onto the global stage, clearing six metres for the first time and winning gold at just 18 years old.
Eight years later, Mondo stands on the brink of a fourth successive European title — another glittering prize to sit alongside two Olympic crowns and three world titles in an extraordinary career.
But with Duplantis, gold is rarely the end of the story.
Wherever he competes, another question hangs tantalisingly in the air of 'how high can he go?'
The world record has already fallen to him an astonishing 15 times. He has fulfilled virtually every dream an athlete could imagine and rewritten the limits of his event along the way.
Yet there remains one intriguing gap on his near-perfect résumé: Duplantis has never broken the world record at a European Athletics Championships.
On Sunday, he could change that.
First comes the gold.
Then, perhaps, 6.32m — and another date with history?
He will be joined in Sunday’s final by Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis, the second-highest vaulter in history, who also needed just a single clearance at 5.60m to progress.
What they said....
Mondo Duplantis: "I've worked really hard the past few weeks to try and make sure I am ready for this competition, so I feel good out there. I feel hopeful and confident for Sunday.
"Qualifying is always a little stressful in the field, you always feel a bit tense as you only have something to lose and nothing to win. That is how it is. I'm happy to have that out of the way.
"It was a early morning today, earlier than I like, but that's OK. That's qualifying - you just have to get through it.
"I had a good feeling out on the track, the jump was clean, good. Nothing too out of the ordinary. Now it's just about going up there and doing what I normally do in the final on Sunday.
"Let's do it. I'm expecting it to be a great final and given today's crowd I am sure it will be great with people cheering us on.
"I just have to focus on myself, on jumping the way I know that I can. I will have to jump high, that is the most important thing for me. There's a lot of great competitors like Emmanouil Karalis (GRE).
Doing a world record is always just the cherry on top, I don't even get nervous. It's more like I won the competition and whatever happens after that is really nice."
Swiss record in women's javelin
In the women’s javelin, Switzerland’s Leonie Hügli set a new Swiss record of 62.33m to lead the qualifiers for Sunday’s (16) final.
Twice European silver medallist Adriana Vilagos of Serbia had a nervous morning, only qualifying with a final round throw of 57.25m. Greece’s 2022 champion Elina Tzengko also made it through with 59.82m.
World champions through in men's 1500m
World champion Isaac Nader and former world champion Jake Wightman both qualified safely enough from the men’s 1500m heats.
Portugal’s Nader was second in heat 1 to Jake Hayward, he jogged in just 0.18 behind the British athlete who won in 3:35.49. 2022 world gold medallist Wightman had plenty in hand as he won heat 2 in 3:41.57.