Armand Duplantis was one -if not the- star of Paris 2024 with his world-record pole vault of 6.25m and kept his full allure and winning ways at a quite more intimate Diamond League event in Lausanne on Wednesday.

The gold medallist didn’t come close to clearing the bar at the same height that he did two weeks ago at a packed and amped up Stade de France, registering what he considers a ‘pedestrian’ 6.15m fly-by, but was still way above the competition as he cleared 23cm more than the runner up, Sam Kendricks, from the US.

"I'm really happy about it. I had a really good time. It was really nice to step out on the track. I don't want to say that I was worried, but it's always a bit of a question mark, I guess, the next meet after something like the Olympics, mentally. The past two weeks, it's been hard to wake up. Not in a mental way, not in that way, but very tired mentally, just exhausted, even this morning," Duplantis explained.

As it is, ‘Mondo’ kept dominating the men's pole vault with a 6.15m mark at the Athletic’s calendar first elite meeting since the end of the Paris Games, which held in an intimate yet spectacular setting next to the famed Lac Leman with thousands in attendance.

"My last competition, it was like 75,000 people watching me but you get such a cool connection with the crowd when they're so close to you, it's just more of this personal type of feeling. It's just a really cool thing. It's a really amazing thing and I just love these kind of events. It really is a great thing for our sport and a great thing for pole vaulting," he said before the Diamond League truly kicks off on Thursday at the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise.

Kendricks’s best jump cleared the bar at 5.92m while the next four best did not surpass the 5.82 mark. The Paris 2024 silver medallist and 2019 world champ again finished second in ‘Mondo’s world’ as he failed to reach the 6.00m height while Duplantis was left alone to compete with himself once more.

After clearing the bar at 6.15m on his third try, the American-born Swede celebrated effusively, as he so often does, endearing himself to fans worldwide and, in this case, the reduced audience in attendance, who got to witness the world-record holder from up close.

"I felt like after the 6m jump I knew that I had something higher in me. I don't really know what's going to happen after I jump six metres, usually, but we were a tiny bit unfortunate with the wind today. And I need, especially now, after not really training that much in two weeks, perfect conditions if I'm going to be able to jump a world record again this year," Duplantis said. "You get to put a face on the people and see how excited they are that I'm here and they want me to jump high. They're pushing for it."

One of his biggest fans is former record-holder and 2012 Olympic champ Renaud Lavillenie, who did not make the minima for the Olympics in his home country this year but showed up at the Stade de France to encourage ‘Mondo’ and celebrate his exploits.

The French pole vaulter, now 37 years old, managed to finish eighth with a best jump of 5.72m in Lausanne in less-than-ideal wind conditions that also went against a 10th world record attempt by Duplantis. The discipline, however remains his and, as his Paris 2024 showing demonstrated, there is still room for many more shining moments ahead.