'Fired up' Duplantis sets sights on Berlin record

Swedish pole vaulter Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis said on Thursday a layoff after defending his Olympic gold in Paris has not blunted his record-breaking desire, ahead of an indoor athletics meet in Berlin this week.

Duplantis took time off "chilling out" over the winter after setting a new world mark of 6.25m in the French capital, which he later extended by one centimetre in Poland in August.

"I still feel very motivated, I have the fire in me. It doesn't go away, that passion is still burning," the 25-year-old told reporters in Berlin before the ISTAF indoor meeting.

"I just want to get back jumping again – I'm still hungry."

Duplantis jumped 6.06m in Berlin in 2023, the highest mark in the competition's history.

"The meeting record is within possible reach," he said.

"I have a good shot of taking that tomorrow – that's my plan and my hope," he added.

Duplantis was the only person to jump above six metres in Paris, where he broke the Olympic record with his second jump and set the world mark with his third.

His current mark is 10 centimetres higher than anyone else in the history of the sport. Duplantis has now broken the world record 10 times.