Mondo Duplantis raises his pole vault world record to 6.29 meters in Budapest

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Mondo Duplantis raised his pole vault world record to 6.29 meters at the Istvan Gyulai Memorial meet in Budapest on Tuesday.

The Olympic and world champion added a centimeter at his second attempt to the previous record mark which he set in June at a Diamond League meet in front of home fans in Stockholm.

It was the 13th pole vault world record for the 25-year-old Swede and the third this year.

The Louisiana-born Duplantis competes for his mother’s native Sweden.

It was another statement win in Budapest for Duplantis, who retained his world title in the Hungarian capital in 2023 by clearing 6.10.

“I love the crowd, I want to come back,” he said. “Thank you.”

At the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting on Tuesday, Duplantis cleared 6.11 at his second attempt and then successfully targeted the world record also with his second try.

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Armand Duplantis, of Sweden, competes in the final of the men's pole vault at the 15th Gyulai Istvan Memorial Track and Field Hungarian Grand Prix in the National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Boglarka Bodnar/MTI via AP)

Armand Duplantis, of Sweden, competes in the final of the men's pole vault at the 15th Gyulai Istvan Memorial Track and Field Hungarian Grand Prix in the National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Boglarka Bodnar/MTI via AP)

Armand Duplantis, of Sweden, gestures as he competes in the final of the men's pole vault at the 15th Gyulai Istvan Memorial Track and Field Hungarian Grand Prix in the National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Boglarka Bodnar/MTI via AP)

Armand Duplantis, of Sweden, competes in the final of the men's pole vault at the 15th Gyulai Istvan Memorial Track and Field Hungarian Grand Prix in the National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Boglarka Bodnar/MTI via AP)

Armand Duplantis, of Sweden, competes in the final of the men's pole vault at the 15th Gyulai Istvan Memorial Track and Field Hungarian Grand Prix in the National Athletics Center in Budapest, Hungary, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2025. (Tamas Vasvari/MTI via AP)

The White House and a bipartisan group of governors are pressuring the operator of the mid-Atlantic power grid to take urgent steps to boost energy supply and curb price hikes, holding a Friday event aimed at addressing a rising concern among voters about the enormous amount of power used for artificial intelligence ahead of elections later this year.

The White House said its National Energy Dominance Council and the governors of several states, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Virginia, want to try to compel PJM Interconnection to hold a power auction for tech companies to bid on contracts to build new power plants,

The Trump administration and governors will sign a statement of principles toward that end Friday. The plan was first reported by Bloomberg.

“Ensuring the American people have reliable and affordable electricity is one of President Trump’s top priorities, and this would deliver much-needed, long-term relief to the mid-Atlantic region," said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is expected to be at the White House, a person familiar with Shapiro’s plans said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement. Shapiro, a Democrat, made his participation in Friday’s event contingent on including a provision to extend a limit on wholesale electricity price increases for the region’s consumers, the person said.

But the operator of the grid won't be there. “PJM was not invited. Therefore we would not attend,” said spokesperson Jeff Shields.

It was not immediately clear whether President Donald Trump would attend the event, which was not listed on his public schedule.

Trump and the governors are under pressure to insulate consumers and businesses alike from the costs of feeding Big Tech’s energy-hungry data centers. Meanwhile, more Americans are falling behind on their electricity bills.

Consumer advocates say ratepayers in the mid-Atlantic electricity grid — which encompasses all or parts of 13 states stretching from New Jersey to Illinois, as well as Washington, D.C. — are already paying billions of dollars in higher bills to underwrite the cost to supply power to data centers, some of them built, some not.

However, they also say that the billions of dollars that consumers are paying isn’t resulting in the construction of new power plants necessary to meet the rising demand.

Pivotal contests in November will be decided by communities that are home to fast-rising electric bills or fights over who’s footing the bill for the data centers that underpin the explosion in demand for artificial intelligence. In parts of the country, data centers are coming online faster than power plants can be built and connected to the grid.

Electricity costs were a key issue in last year's elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, a data center hotspot, and in Georgia, where Democrats ousted two Republican incumbents for seats on the state’s utility regulatory commission. Voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City all cited economic concerns as the top issue, as Democrats and Republicans gird for a debate over affordability in the intensifying midterm battle to control Congress.

Gas and electric utilities sought or won rate increases of more that $34 billion in the first three quarters of 2025, consumer advocacy organization PowerLines reported. That was more than double the same period a year earlier.

Meta's Stanton Springs Data Center is seen Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Newton County, East of Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)