XIAMEN, April 21 — Sweden’s Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis opened his outdoor season in Olympic year in stunning fashion on Saturday as he bettered his own pole vault world record at the Xiamen Diamond League meeting.

Duplantis, the reigning Olympic, two-time world and European champion, fired out a warning to any potential rivals at this summer’s Paris Games by sailing over 6.24 metres at his first attempt at the Egret Stadium to improve by 1cm his previous best set in Eugene last year.