Why pole vaulter who broke world record only increases it by 1cm at a time even though he can do better

Swedish pole vaulter Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis made history on Monday (5 August) when he beat his own world record to win Olympic gold.

Having more success than Frenchman Anthony Ammirati, who crashed out of the pole vault heats for a very NSFW reason, Duplantis successfully defended his Olympic title from Tokyo to become the back-to-back champion.

Early on in the pole vault final, the 24-year-old breezed past the competition, smashing the Olympic record of 6.03m by jumping 6.10m with ease.

Later, Duplantis set his sights on beating his own world record - which he set in April at the Diamond League in China - by attempting to jump a whopping 6.25m.

All other events at the Stade de France had finished for the night, but an estimated 80,000 people stuck around to see if he could make history.

His first attempt failed after his trailing arm brought the bar down.

The Swede once again failed on his second try when his right knee clipped the bar.

But, on his third and final attempt, Duplantis successfully cleared the jump and beat his previous record by 1cm.

So why only 1cm when there was a considerable amount of room between him and the bar?

On Monday night, Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis beat his own world record by vaulting an impressive 6.25m (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Athletes receive $100,000 (£78,700) every time they break the world record. By steadily increasing the height of his record-breaking jumps, the Swede makes more money.

As reported by Forbes, you only get it one time at the meet you broke it at.

So, if Duplantis broke the record twice at the Olympics, he would still only receive $100,000 instead of $200,000.

"An athlete such as Duplantis who recognises this understands that they can maximise their financial return by waiting to break the world record again," the report explains.

By beating his world record by just one centimetre at a time Duplantis is able to earn more money (Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Speaking after his record-breaking jump, the pole vaulter said: "What a night. Really there are no words that can explain it. I have no idea what’s going on, I feel like nothing’s even real.

"I can’t even feel my feet, I can’t even feel my body. I’m just on cloud nine. So much goes into this and then you just do it."

The Swede added: "What can I say? I just broke a world record at the Olympics, the biggest possible stage for a pole vaulter."

"The biggest dream since a kid was to break the world record at the Olympics, and I’ve been able to do that in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of."