Armand "Mondo" Duplantis won his fourth consecutive European Athletics Championships pole vault title in Birmingham on 16 August, clearing 6.15m for a new championship record at Alexander Stadium. Needing just one attempt at that height, the Swedish vaulter chose not to challenge his own world record of 6.31m once gold was already secured.
Greece's Emmanouil Karalis pushed Duplantis deeper into the competition than expected, matching him at 6.00m before missing at the heights that followed. Only the two of them cleared that bar. Bronze went to France's Thierry Baptiste at 5.85m.
With the title decided, Duplantis raised it first to 6.10m to break the championship record, then again to 6.15m. But he never called for a fourth height near his world record, set in March 2026 — a decision that ran against pre-event previews suggesting Birmingham would be his springboard for a record attempt.
A season interrupted twice
The result capped a season that had already tested Duplantis twice. Roughly 40 consecutive competition victories ended on 7 June at the Stockholm Diamond League, where Kurtis Marschall beat him for Duplantis's first defeat in close to three years.
At the London Diamond League on 17-18 July, a second setback followed. Duplantis withdrew from that meet with a left thigh problem after clearing 5.95m in a three-way battle with Marschall and Sam Kendricks. According to his agent, Daniel Wessfeldt, imaging showed "no sign of injury," and Duplantis needed roughly ten days of light training and treatment before he was ready to compete again.
Wessfeldt said the recovery timeline would not disrupt Duplantis's planned schedule, with Birmingham remaining his next fixed target. That forecast held, and Duplantis arrived in Birmingham as the reigning favourite before leaving with the pole vault title intact for a fourth straight edition.
Fourth in a row
"This is my fourth one of these in a row now, which is pretty crazy," Duplantis said after the final. "I am getting pretty old and it's going quick, so I'm just trying not to take it for granted and enjoy it as much as I can."
Italy topped the overall medal table as the championships closed on 16 August, with Duplantis's pole vault win among the headline results of the final day. From 10 to 16 August, the event ran at Alexander Stadium — the first time a British city has hosted the European Athletics Championships. Duplantis's next confirmed appearances fall later in the season, as he continues a campaign already marked by one defeat, one enforced withdrawal, and a fourth consecutive continental title.