Duplantis clinches 4th straight world indoor pole vault title with a 6.25m record

TORUN, Poland (AP) — Armand Duplantis won another pole vault world title after he was pushed all the way by Greece's Emmanouil Karalis on Saturday.

Duplantis won his fourth consecutive world indoor championships with a tournament record vault of 6.25 meters, a 10 centimeter improvement on his winning height a year ago in Nanjing.

The pair left behind the field at 6.05.

Duplantis cleared his first attempts at 6.10, 6.15 and then 6.25, when he wobbled the bar.

Karalis passed at 6.10 and 6.15, and missed his attempts at 6.25, finshing runner-up for a second straight year.

Duplantis put away his pole, foregoing attempts at 6.32 to break his world record of 6.31 that he set last week at the Swedish meeting named after him, the Mondo Classic.

"I am proud to have come through for the win. Today, it was about the battle. It was a tough competition and that is why I didn’t go for a world record,” Duplantis said. “After all those jumps it was difficult to go back to back. You only get three minutes on the clock, which is not full rest at all. I had some lactic acid in my legs by that point.”

Karalis was runner-up at 6.05 and Australia's Kurtis Marschall third with a personal-best 6.00, marking the first time in history that three vaulters surpassed six meters in the same indoor contest.

Simon Ehammer of Switzerland reclaimed the heptathlon title with a world record score of 6,670, adding 25 points to the previous high set in 2012 by Ashton Eaton of the U.S. Ehammer was the world indoor champion in 2024 and runner-up last year.

Also, Zaynab Dosso of Italy won the women's 60-meter final — Olympic 100 champion Julien Alfred was third — Christopher Morales Williams of Canada and Lurdes Gloria Manuel of the Czech Republic won the men's and women's 400, and Josh Kerr of Britain the men's 3,000 six months after tearing his calf in the world outdoor 1,500 final in Tokyo.

Lurdes Gloria Manuel, of Czechia, celebrates after winning the gold medal in the women's 400 meters final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, Saturday, March 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Christopher Morales Williams, of Canada, crosses the finish line to win the gold medal, ahead of silver medalist Khaleb McRae, of the United States, in the men's 400 meters final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, Saturday, March 21, 2026.(AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Simon Ehammer, of Switzerland, posesafter winning the gold medal and setting a new world record in the heptathlon at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, Saturday, March 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Armand Duplantis, of Sweden, makes an attempt in the men's pole vault final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, Saturday, March 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Armand Duplantis, of Sweden, poses after winning the gold medal and setting a new championship record in the men's pole vault final at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Poland, Saturday, March 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday made expletive-laden new threats to escalate strikes on Iran and its infrastructure if it doesn't open the Strait of Hormuz by his deadline, after American forces rescued an aviator whose Iran-downed plane fell behind enemy lines.

A defiant Iran struck infrastructure targets in neighboring Gulf Arab countries, challenged the U.S. account of the rescue and threatened to restrict another heavily used waterway in the region, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Arabian Peninsula.

In a social media post, Trump vowed to hit Iran’s power plants and bridges and said the country would be “living in Hell” if the Strait of Hormuz, crucial for global trade, isn’t opened by Tuesday. He ended with “Praise be to Allah.”

Trump has issued such deadlines before but extended them when mediators have claimed progress toward ending the war, which has killed thousands, shaken global markets and spiked fuel prices in just over five weeks.

“It seems Trump has become a phenomenon that neither Iranians nor Americans are able to fully analyze,” Iranian Culture Minister Sayed Reza Salihi-Amiri told visiting Associated Press journalists in an interview in Tehran, adding that the president “constantly shifts between contradictory positions.”

Both sides have threatened and hit civilian targets like oil fields and desalination plants critical for drinking water. Iran’s U.N. mission called Trump’s threat “clear evidence of intent to commit war crime.”

Iran’s military joint command warned of stepped-up attacks on regional oil and civilian infrastructure if the U.S. and Israel attack such targets there, according to state television.

The laws of armed conflict allow attacks on civilian infrastructure only if the military advantage outweighs the civilian harm, legal scholars say. It’s considered a high bar to clear, and causing excessive suffering to civilians can constitute a war crime.

An intense search followed Friday's crash of the F-15E Strike Eagle, while Iran promised a reward for the “enemy pilot.” It was the first known American aircraft to crash in Iranian territory since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28.

Trump said that the service member was “seriously wounded and really brave” and rescued from “deep inside the mountains" in an operation involving dozens of armed aircraft. He said a second crew member was rescued in “broad daylight” within hours of the crash.

A senior U.S. administration official said that prior to locating the pilot, the CIA spread word inside Iran that U.S. forces had found him and were moving him for exfiltration, confusing Iranian officials. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.

Iran also shot down another U.S. military plane, demonstrating both the perils of the bombing campaign and the ability of Iran's degraded military to hit back. Neither the status of the A-10 attack aircraft's crew nor where it crashed is known.

On Sunday, Iran’s state television aired a video showing what it claimed were parts of U.S. aircraft — a transport plane and two helicopters — shot down by Iranian forces during the rescue operation.

However, a regional intelligence official briefed on the mission told the AP that the U.S. military blew up two transport planes because of a technical malfunction and brought in additional aircraft to complete the rescue. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the covert mission.

Two Black Hawk helicopters were hit but navigated to safe airspace, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive information.

Trump's deadline centers on growing alarm over Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz, critical for shipments of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf to Europe and Asia as well as humanitarian supplies. Some ships have paid Iran for passage.

An Iranian presidential spokesperson, Seyyed Mohammad Mehdi Tabatabaei, said on social media that the strait can reopen only if some transit revenues compensate Iran for war damages.

A top Iranian adviser, Ali Akbar Velayati, warned on social media that Tehran also could disrupt trade on the Bab el-Mandeb, a key waterway to and from the Suez Canal.

Diplomatic efforts continued. Oman's Foreign Ministry said that deputy foreign ministers and experts from Iran and Oman met to discuss proposals to ensure “smooth transit” through the strait. Oman has often served as a mediator between the U.S. and Iran.

Egypt said that Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty had spoken with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and with Turkish and Pakistani counterparts. Russia said that Araghchi also spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

In the United Arab Emirates, authorities said that four people — one Nepali and three Pakistani — were hurt in fires caused by debris from the interception of an Iranian projectile at Khor Fakkan port, and intercepted debris caused fires at a petrochemical plant in Ruwais, halting operations.

In Kuwait, Iranian drone attacks caused significant damage to power plants and a petrochemical plant. They also put a water desalination station out of service, according to the Ministry of Electricity.

In Bahrain, a drone attack caused a fire at one of the national oil company’s storage facilities and a state-run petrochemical plant, the kingdom’s official news agency said.

In Israel, rescue authorities said that they were searching for three people in the northern city of Haifa after an apartment building was hit. It wasn't immediately clear what struck it.

Meanwhile, more than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began.

In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there.

Bassem Mroue reported from Tehran, Iran, Sam Metz from Jerusalem and Samy Magdy from Cairo. Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Lisa Mascaro and Seung Min Kim in Washington; Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; and Farnoush Amiri in New York; contributed to this report.

Israeli security forces and rescue teams work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, Israel, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israeli security forces and rescue teams work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, Israel, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Iran's Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts, Seyed Reza Salehi Amiri, talks during an interview with the Associated Press in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Yemeni soldiers patrol the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Yemen, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)

A cafe attendant sits at the counter as two men sit at a cafe in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A woman walks past a poster of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Vehicles and motorcycles move past an anti-U.S. billboard depicting the American aircrafts into the Iranian armed forces fishing net with signs that read in Farsi: "The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed, The entire Persian Gulf is our hunting ground," at the Eqelab-e-Eslami, or Islamic Revolution square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

In this image provided by Sepahnews, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's official website, wreckage is shown at what Iran's state TV claimed was the site of a downed American transport plane and two helicopters involved in a rescue operation, in Isfahan province, Iran, April, 2026. (Sepahnews via AP)

In this image provided by Sepahnews, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's official website, wreckage is shown at what Iran's state TV claimed was the site of a downed American transport plane and two helicopters involved in a rescue operation, in Isfahan province, Iran, April, 2026. (Sepahnews via AP)

In this image provided by Sepahnews, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's official website, black smoke rises into the air at what Iran's state TV claimed was the site where an American transport plane and two helicopters involved in a rescue operation were shot down, in Isfahan province, Iran, April, 2026. (Sepahnews via AP)

In this image provided by Sepahnews, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's official website, wreckage is shown at what Iran's state TV claimed was the site of a downed American transport plane and two helicopters involved in a rescue operation, in Isfahan province, Iran, April, 2026. (Sepahnews via AP)

Members of Lebanon's General Security stand at the Masnaa border crossing in the Bekaa valley, eastern Lebanon, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A man, who fled Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon with his family, sleeps in his car used as shelter, along a seaside promenade in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Followers of Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr chant slogans as they wave national Iraqi flag during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A bedroom is damaged in a building struck in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Pedetrians walk by a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh, with the mosque visible in the background, which officials at the site say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday, in Zanjan, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Police officers and their horses take cover in an underground parking garage as sirens warn of an incoming missile fired from Yemen in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)

A man looks at a destroyed building within the Grand Hosseiniyeh complex that officials say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday in Zanjan, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)