It was an achievement that echoed around the athletics world. When Emmanouil Karalis soared over 6.17m in Athens earlier this year, the Greek pole vaulter realised a long-held dream in ascending to such a height – which only one man in history has surpassed: his great friend and rival Mondo Duplantis.
The pair will take to the track at the first Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season in Shanghai/Keqiao on Saturday (May 16) and while it will be an outdoor opener for both of them, we just might witness something special.
For Karalis, this has been a breakthrough year, the 26-year-old adding 9cm to his lifetime best with that clearance back in February. But he believes there’s more to come.
Indoors, Karalis jumped off an 18-step run-up due to space constraints but in Shanghai/Keqiao, he will use his outdoor, 20-step approach. “Being able to jump so high with 18 steps, now I’m with 20 it’s going to be easier,” he says. “I’m going to produce more speed. I’m using bigger poles. Hopefully we can do something special.”
Coming into 2026, Karalis knew things were really starting to click. Last year he claimed silver in the world final in Tokyo, added to his bronze from the 2024 Olympics.
“I had a very good year last year, I was healthy and we built a very strong base for indoors,” he says. “We knew we were going to jump high. We also tried some new poles, longer poles and, thank God, the test was a success and we were able to produce something amazing.”
Going over 6.17m was something he’d long imagined, and his reaction was suitably ecstatic. “I always visualise myself and I always believed it would be a height I would be able to surpass,” he says. “Being able to do it in this arena, with the home crowd, to jump it in front of my people, it’s something amazing.
“It’s a feeling,” he adds. “I knew what I wanted to feel in that competition and I was able to produce it.”
Later in the indoor season, Karalis had decent attempts at 6.20m and 6.25m and those are the heights he’s now looking towards. “Hopefully I’ll be able to come close to those in the outdoor season.”
This is his second appearance in Shanghai/Keqiao, having cleared 6.01m to finish second behind Duplantis last year. With Karalis on his return visit is his father, Charalampos, and Marcin Szczepanski, who team up with George Pomaski – coach to Greek long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou – to form his coaching team.
His dad is the “maestro” who oversees Karalis’s physical training, with Szczepanski taking the lead on vaulting and Pomaski focused on speed development.
“They are experts in their own field and they make this blend of the athlete that I am,” says Karalis. “Everyone knows what to do in their field and we all have one goal: for me to jump high.”
The progression to this point has been many years in the making. Over a decade ago, Karalis shared a podium with Duplantis at the 2015 World U18 Championships – two 15-year-olds who would eventually rise to the top of the world as seniors.
Can Karalis improve further and threaten Duplantis’s winning streak, which stretches back almost three years? He certainly doesn’t think he’s reached his limit.
“Technique wise, I’m at the point in my career where I don’t want to change a lot of things,” says Karalis. “But overall, I want to just become a better athlete: improve my speed, my strength, my ability to jump. I know if I improve those areas, I’m going to be able to jump even higher.”
Duplantis is a great rival, but also a friend – the camaraderie the public sees between vaulters on the track proving just as strong when they’re away from it. “It’s always nice to compete with Mondo and all the guys,” says Karalis, who adds that the Swede has been able to “break down mental barriers” for the pole vault community and “bring everyone to their A-game”.
“It’s very nice that whenever he does something amazing, he always wants to have us involved – to go out, party and enjoy. That’s what’s important, that your legacy is to stay in the moment with the people that you love, and we’re happy that Mondo has us in his close circle to enjoy all his success.”
Duplantis has won the last five Diamond League titles, and the Road to the Final and a potential sixth win will commence on Saturday. But Karalis also has eyes on that prize.
The first meeting of the season always throws up some unknowns and that’s also the case for Karalis, who rarely attempts massive heights in training.
“Sometimes it goes over six [metres] but we don’t try to push a lot in training,” he says. “We try to keep our form. We don’t use big poles in training. We do two or three or five jumps. We don’t want to jump as high as in competitions.”
The best is saved for when it matters most. On Saturday night, Karalis hopes to produce that. He will take to the runway filled with belief.
“I love what I’m doing and I haven’t rested so much [since indoors] so I know where my body is,” he says. “Of course, it’s the first competition but I’m not nervous. I’m excited because I’m happy to be back in action.
“I know that the arena is very good and Asian fans will be cheering us on. I’m going to go step by step, enjoy it as much as I can and hopefully we can all jump high.”
Having raised the bar so high this year, Karalis knows further improvements will be more incremental. But he also knows his body. He knows his training. Both are in a great place. He believes there’s more in him.
“I know it’s not easy every meet to jump higher and higher,” he says. “But I know that if I’m healthy and with the right conditions, I’m going to be able to produce something special.”