Ryan Smart
Mondo Duplantis left fans stunned with his prediction for the ultimate distance he could clear after breaking the pole vault world record once again.
The Swedish star cleared 6.28 metres at the Diamond League meeting at Stockholm earlier this month, setting a new record by a single centimetre.
Duplantis - who was born in the United States to a Swedish mother and American father - has now broken the world record on 12 different occasions during his career and, at 25, surely has plenty left in the tank to keep breaking it.
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There is a financial incentive for Duplantis in beating his previous mark as often as he does, with each athlete given $100,000 every time - though once per meeting - they set a new world record, as per Forbes.
He embarked on a new world record pursuit at the Ostrava Golden Spike event on Tuesday but was unable to clear 6.29 over three attempts.
Speaking ahead of that meeting in Czechia, he told reporters that he would soon be attempting to clear 6.30 - and named the distance he believed was ultimately possible in the long-term.
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"I've shown now that I am very, very close to 6.30 metres," he said. "I want to keep pushing and I want to get to 6.30m as soon as possible.
"I'd like to get to 6.40m, that would be another crazy barrier of course and that also feels like in the realm of possibility for me."
As an illustration of just how tall that number is, it is four times the height of a person standing at 5ft 3in.
Other than Duplantis, the highest distance cleared by another competitor is the 6.16 metres that Renaud Lavillenie vaulted over back in 2014.
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The Swedish athlete's reign of dominance can only be compared to that of Sergey Bubka, who represented the Soviet Union and then Ukraine during his career.
Between 1984 and 1992, he broke the world record on a staggering 14 occasions up to 6.14 metres, and held on to it for 20 years until it was finally broken by Frenchman Lavillenie.