The 2025 World Athletics Championships start this weekend, between September 13-21, and some of the biggest stars in the sports will be in Japan, including Mondo Duplantis, the Swedish-American pole vaulter who has broken 13 world records, including world record in pole vault at 6.29m, and won two Olympic Golds and five World champion titles.
Duplantis is expected to continue setting new heights in Tokyo. His last world record happened just one month ago, on August 12 in Budapest, at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold. Just two years earlier, Duplantis had jumped 6.10 meters at the 2023 World Championships, when he won his second world title.
For Duplantis, however, this will be a chance to do some sightseeing in Japan, as the last time he was in Tokyo, at the 2021 Olympic Games, he had to be confined due to the pandemic. "It's like a bucket list place to compete at and to experience the culture of the city and whatnot, and I feel like we didn't get to experience that at the Olympics," Duplantis said to reporters on Thursday.
Time for men's pole vault at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo
It remains to be seen if Duplantis will manage another record this weekend, but we will know soon enough. Men's pole vault will be one of the first events at the World Athletics Championships, with qualification on Saturday, September 13, at 19:05 UTC+9, Japan local time. That's 12:05 PM CEST (noon), 11:05 AM BST.
Then, the finals take place on Monday, September 15, at 19:49 UTC+9, meaning 12:49 PM CEST, 11:49 AM BST on Monday (noon).