Pole vault is flying high, and the sport’s biggest stars lived up to the hype as they stole the show while making their appearance at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship pre-event on Thursday, 10 September in Budapest.
The athletes went full glam overload, donning sleek suits on the carpet laid out for them at the Gyula Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre.
In just a few hours, they will return to the venue which hosted the 2023 World Championships, swapping their striking suits for competition gear as they take to the pole vault runway.
But before then, the eight qualifiers for Friday’s (11 September) men’s final were intentional in proving that one of athletics’ most exciting events is thriving both on and off the runway.
“We really showed up, right?” Emmanouil Karalis said to Olympics.com “That’s [what] we agreed on the [chat] group, that we are going for suits. We feel good, we look good and hopefully, we will jump high tomorrow.”
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Pole vaulters turn heads in Budapest and look ahead to stealing the show at the Ultimate show
Whether it’s clearing six metres or turning heads with a glamorous parade, the vaulters fully embraced the moment.
“It feels good. It’s not strange to be honest, I like what’s going on,” he continued, accentuating the cut of his maroon double breast jacket paired with a red tie and linen trouser.
He is surprisingly comfortable in any setting, whether suited up or competing in his singlet that we are used to seeing him in.
The 2025 world silver medallist affirmed his status as the real threat to the world record holder Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis’ dominance in their sport.
Karalis showed just how pumped up he is to take on Duplantis, who has set the world record 15 times, with two exhilarating jumps at this year’s Diamond League circuit.
At the end of last month in Zurich, he went head-to-head with the Swede superstar as he attempted to break his world record of 6.31m.
Then about a week ago, the Greek record holder ruled the series final in Brussels, following Duplantis’ late withdrawal due to soreness in his leg.
He cleared 6.12m on his third attempt to break the Swede’s meeting record by one centimetre.
