20 April, 2023

Duplantis, the Norwegians and the rest of the world elite

If we are to summarize the pole vault winter of 2023, we are left with two big names. Swedish Armand Duplantis, who improved the world record to 6.22, and our own Sondre Guttormsen, who secured the European Championships gold indoors and became the latest addition to the exclusive list of jumpers who have cleared the magical six metres. These two are at the head of an exquisite start list for pole vault at the Wanda Diamond League meet at Bislett on 15 June where, at the time of writing, nine of the top ten in the world ranking are present.

Men's pole vault has had two major record profiles in modern times. First Sergei Bubka who moved the world record from 5.85 to 6.14. Then Mondo Duplantis, which has temporarily stopped at winter's 6.22.

As a little mix up in this, the French have always had class jumpers; not least Renaud Lavillenie, who can look back on gold and silver from the Olympics, three golds from both the indoor World Championships and outdoor European Championships and five medals from the outdoor World Championships.

As we now enter the 2023 outdoor season, it is only necessary to note that this year's Oslo Bislett Games has an excellent start list.
Duplantis is the king, but if we look at the distance between him and our own Sondre Guttormsen, the distance between the two - based on Sondre's record development - has never been less than the 22 centimetres they start this year's season with.

Now it goes without saying that moving the world record is a bigger challenge than improving the Norwegian ones. That's the way it is, and always will be. But it will be interesting to see if the distance can be reduced further.

But both this year's event and Norwegian pole vaulting have several jokers. Pål Haugen Lillefosse jumped 5.86 in 2022 and 5.83 this winter. Impressive results, but he ended up a bit in the shadow of Sondre. We're guessing it's a revenge-seeking Norwegian who will be unleashing the 2023 season under the open sky.

And chasing behind comes Sondre's younger brother Simen, who last summer jumped 5.72. The three Norwegians are respectively number five, eight and thirty-two in the world ranking, and Norway is the only nation with two men in the top ten.

The starting list so far also includes the American Christopher Nilsen, who is number two in the world ranking, Ernest John Obiena from the Philippines (3), Renaud Lavillenie (4), Thiago Braz from Brazil (6), Bo Khanda Lita Baehre from Germany (7) and Ben Broeders from the Netherlands (9).

Although the focus for many of the spectators at Bislett this evening in June will be on Mondo and the Norwegians, this is a starting field worthy of any global championship final.