World Record Earns Readers' and Editors' Choice Awards

Track and field fans voiced their choices in this week's DyeStat's Performance of the Week poll, while DyeStat's editors made their own selection.

Readers’ Choice: Mondo Duplantis

With 41.28 percent of the vote, Armand "Mondo" Duplantis won our Readers’ Choice vote, beating Elle Purrier with her second-place tally of 23.99 percent.

The 20-year old broke the world record in the pole vault Saturday at the Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland. He cleared 20-2.75 (6.17m) on his second attempt, surpassing the previous record by one centimeter.

This was not Duplantis' first time making attempts at the world record this year. He took three unsuccessful attempts four days earlier. With one of those attempts being a narrow miss, having brushed the bar off with his elbow on the way down, the only question was when Duplantis would break the world record, not if.

As it turned out, the wait was less than a week. Duplantis won the competition with a clearance of 18-9.25 (5.72m). He then had first attempt clearances at 19-5 (5.92m) to break the meet record and 19-8.50 (6.01m) to improve his world lead, which he had set at 19-8.25 (6.00m) earlier in the week.

Then came the world record. Duplantis cleared on his second attempt, adding his name to the record books.

Editors’ Choice: Mondo Duplantis

This was a crazy week for top performances. We saw four American records from Donavan Brazier, Ajee' Wilson, Sam Kendricks and Elle Purrier and a high school national record from Nico Young. Both Purrier and Young's records were impressive, but when compared to Duplantis breaking the world record, they simply do not match up.

Duplantis is the third man in history to clear 20 feet (6.09m) in the pole vault. It is one of the few events where the indoor record surpasses the outdoor record.

Prior to Duplantis clearing 6.17m, the record belonged to France's Renaud Lavillenie at 20-2.50 (6.16m) since 2014. Before that, Ukraine's Sergey Bubka owned the record at 20-2 (6.15m) going back to 1993.

Bubka remains the most successful pole vaulter of all-time. He cleared 20-feet or better six times indoors and six times outdoors. Duplantis and Lavillenie have each done it once and only Bubka has cleared 20 feet outdoors. It has not helped more recent jumpers that the pole vault rules have changed, specifically with the technical equipment relating to the bar and the standards that hold the bar up.

However, there is a sense that Duplantis could be a Bubka-like figure in the pole vault. Bubka was known for taking tiny slices off the world record, once breaking it three times in less than two weeks. That is definitely within the realm of possibility for Duplantis as he continues to grow and mature.

And as interesting as Duplantis' exploits are indoors, it will be interesting to see if he can continue to push the envelope outdoors as he prepares for the Olympics in Tokyo.