Karalis rises to second behind Duplantis on pole vault list

Emmanouil Karalis became the second-best pole vaulter in history as he cleared 6.17 metres at the Greek indoor championships on Saturday, still far below the 6.30m world record of Armand Duplantis.

Duplantis has vaulted 6.17m or better 14 times.

The Greek athlete took bronze in the Paris Olympics and silver in the 2025 indoor and outdoor world championships - all of which Duplantis won.

Karalis had a previous best of 6.08m.

MANOOLLOOOOOOO🔥@FlyManoloFly becomes the 2nd best pole vaulter of all time after soaring to 6.17m at the Greek Indoor Championships 💥

That’s a world lead and a massive 9cm improvement on his personal best 😮‍💨 pic.twitter.com/nJatKWl4UJ — World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) February 28, 2026

On Saturday in Paiania, an Athens suburb, he cleared 6.07m on his first attempt before tackling 6.17m, which he cleared comfortably on his second attempt.

He overtook French former world record holder Renaud Lavillenie, who vaulted 6.16m in 2014.

Karalis attempted to break the world record by setting the bar at 6.31m. He failed twice before stopping.

Karalis and Duplantis will face off on March 12 at the Swede's Mondo Classic in Uppsala, Sweden, ahead of the World Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland.