Pole vaulter Armand Duplantis fails to breach 6.19metre mark eight days after setting new world record

Paris: Armand Duplantis cleared 6.01 metres easily to win an indoor meeting in Clermont Ferrand on Sunday but for the second time in five days the Swede could not break his own pole vault world record. [caption id=“attachment_8079421” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Armand Duplantis competes in the men’s pole vault event at a World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Lievin, Northern France. AP Photo[/caption] The 20-year-old failed in three attempts at 6.19 metres, eight days after beating his own best mark to take the record to 6.18 metres. Duplantis first beat Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie’s record of 6.16 metres by one centimetre on 8 February. Lavillenie, the organiser of Sunday’s ‘All star Perche’ in Clermont Ferrand, took part in the event and finished second to Duplantis with 5.94 metres. Ukrainian Sergey Bubka’s 6.14m mark in 1994 remains the highest outdoor clearance but the IAAF has not distinguished between indoor and outdoor records in pole vault since 2000. Bubka beat his own world record at four consecutive meetings in 1991.