Mondo Duplantis sure made a big statement on Friday at the National Pole Vault Summit.
The Lafayette (LA) High senior and LSU signee opened his indoor season with a new IAAF world lead in the pole vault and bested his former junior world indoor record with a clearance of 5.83m, passing his top mark of 5.82m at New Balance Nationals Indoor last March.
Duplantis is coming off a ninth-place performance for Sweden at the World Championships in London where he cleared 18-0.5.
Friday's jump gave Duplantis three 19-plus foot clearances overall, including his 19-4.25 from the Texas Relays last spring, which was a world junior record outdoors.