Chris Nilsen Breaks Collegiate Indoor Pole Vault Record

Talk about raising the bar.

Chris Nilsen of South Dakota broke Mondo Duplantis’ near one-year-old collegiate record in the pole vault this afternoon when he cleared 5.95m (19-5½) at the Nebraska Tune-Up.

𝐍𝐂𝐀𝐀 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃‼️ 👊

Chris Nilsen with a 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑-𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 vault of 19-5 ½ (5.93) at the Nebraska Tune-Up this afternoon. He tops LSU’s Mondo Duplantis for a new @NCAATrackField indoor record.#GoYotes | #WeAreSouthDakota 🐾

📹 courtesy of @omavs. pic.twitter.com/EfvWT62yZY

— South Dakota Track & Field / Cross Country (@SDCoyotesXCTF) February 21, 2020

It was just last year – February 22, 2019, to be exact – when Duplantis topped 5.92m (19-5) at the SEC Indoor Championships to break Shawn Barber’s near four-year-old standard and seemingly put the record out of reach for the foreseeable future.

SEE MORE: USTFCCCA Collegiate Record Book – Men’s Indoor Pole Vault

Nilsen had other ideas on Friday.

The current member of The Bowerman Watch List entered at 5.38m (17-7¾) and notched first-attempt clearances at that bar in addition to 5.53m (18-1¾) and 5.73m (18-9½). By the time he reclaimed the collegiate lead at 5.84m (19-2) from KC Lightfoot of Baylor, Nilsen set his sights on Duplantis and asked the bar to be raised to one-half inch above his former rival’s best.

Nilsen missed on his first attempt, but stayed the course and eclipsed it on his second.

That was the second best clearance of Nilsen’s collegiate career, indoors or outdoors. Nilsen only bettered today’s bar last year at the 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships when he went for 5.95m (19-6¼).