European indoor champion Emmanouil Karalis cleared an incredible 6.17m at the Greek Indoor Championships in Paiania on the outskirts of Athens on Saturday (28) to become the second highest pole vaulter in history.
Having already cleared a world lead of 6.07m on his first attempt, Karalis elected to raise the bar to a dizzying 6.17m, a height that has only even been conquered by Armand Duplantis.
Karalis cleared this stratospheric height on his second attempt to move to second on the world all-time list ahead of former world record-holders and Olympic champions Sergiy Bubka and Renaud Lavillenie and behind Duplantis who holds the world record with 6.30m from the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo where Karalis won silver.
But Karalis wasn't quite done yet. He composed himself to take two attempts at 6.31m which would have prised the world record away from his long-time friend and rival.
"I don't know what's going on guys! I'm living a dream, don't wake me up! I'm very happy. I managed to make one of my dreams come true here in Paiania, the home of athletics...I can't imagine at all that I surpassed Sergey Bubka and Renaud Lavillenie. It was definitely something I always wanted to do, we believed in it, I said it to myself, but achieving it is something very great," said Karalis as quoted by Gazzetta.gr.
Karalis and Duplantis are due to meet at the Mondo Classic in Uppsala, Sweden on 12 March ahead of the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Kujawy Pomorze from 20-22 March when Duplantis will target a fourth successive title.
Updated world all-time pole vault list
6.30m - Armand Duplantis (SWE), 2025
6.17m - Emmanouil Karalis (GRE), 2026
6.16m - Renaud Lavillenie (FRA), 2014
6.15m - Sergey Bubka (UKR), 1993
6.07m - KC Lightfoot (USA), 2023
6.06m - Steve Hooker (AUS), 2009
6.06m - Sam Kendricks (USA), 2019
6.05m - Maksim Tarasov (RUS), 1999
6.05m - Dmitri Markov (AUS), 2001
6.05m - Chris Nilsen (USA), 2022
Photos courtesy of Nikolopoulos Eurokinissi
