DUPLANTIS SETS HIGH STANDARD

MONDO DUPLANTIS has redefined pole vault by raising his own world record on 10 different occasions.

- BY ALAN SMITH

But with the creation of new track-only events such as Michael Johnson's Grand Slam threatening to leave field programmes in the shadows, the Swedish superstar sees no reason to fear an existential crisis.

Neither does Duplantis (above) waste much energy thinking about how high he can eventually go in an event where he is so much better than his rivals that he is effectively competing against himself.