Armand "Mondo" Duplantis opened his 2024 outdoor athletics season just as he ended the last - with a pole vault world record.

The reigning world and Olympic champion cleared 6.24m on Saturday (20 April) at the Diamond League event in Xiamen, to break the record for the eighth time in his young career.

Ahead of the opening Diamond League meet of the season, the 24-year-old Duplantis was upbeat, promising “anything is possible” when asked whether he would attempt ro raise the world record.

Duplantis was the only man to clear six metres on Saturday evening, and cleared all his vaults first time, with no misses.

He began with heights of 5.62m, 5.82m, 6.00m, and then shot straight for the world record height, which he cleared with ease.

Duplantis set the previous world record of 6.23m in his previous outdoor meet, the Diamond League 2023 Final in Eugene, Oregon, USA.

Organisers and World Athletics will now go through a process to ratify the new mark of 6.24m before it is listed as an official record.

Duplantis also retained his indoor world title at the start of 2024.