The best show in athletics is also its strangest event courtesy of a Swedish alien from Louisiana.
Mondo Duplantis broke the world record for the 14th time on his way to World Championships pole vault gold in Tokyo, back in the stadium where he claimed his first major title – Olympic gold – at just 21.
There is something captivating about the man from Lafayette, who had every one of the 55,000 people in attendance holding their breath as he stepped up for his third and final attempt at clearing 6m 30cm.
They need not have worried. Just like Usain Bolt, athletics’ greatest superstar who has been in Tokyo this week, Duplantis has a flair for the dramatic.
The plan might not have been to fall short in his first two world record bids. The second, in particular, was desperately close with his knees just touching the bar which considered staying up before tumbling down after him.
But just as he did in Paris last summer, Duplantis saved his best for last, grazing but not dislodging the bar as he pushed the boundaries of pole vault ever further.
He has now raised the bar five centimetres in a year from his 6m25 at the Olympics a year ago.
More than that, his world record bids have become the hottest ticket of any athletics meet, even over the 100 metre finals.
One man and one pole capable of shutting down a stadium.
Spare a thought for Emmanouil Karalis. The Greek silver medallist cleared six metres at the first attempt and on this showing has the potential to overtake Renaud Lavillenie as the second highest pole vaulter in history.
The Frenchman was in this final as well. The oldest person ever to reach a World Championship pole vault final at nearly 39, but his days of clearing 6m16cm are behind him, as he finished eighth.
Karalis may one day succeed the 2012 Olympic champion as the greatest among mortals. He just happens to have come through at the same age as an extra-terrestrial.
He has already cleared 6m 08cm this season, putting him fourth all time behind Duplantis, Lavillenie and Sergey Bubka.
That emergence was described by the stadium announcer as the start of a rivalry with the Swede that could emulate Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal.
The only problem is that when you pitched up to watch those two tennis greats in action, you did not know who would win.
When Mondo is in town, there is no one who can beat him, not Karalis, not Lavillenie, not anyone.
His only defeat at a major championships came on his debut as a 19-year-old in Doha six years ago, taking silver behind American Sam Kendricks, who was fourth here, just behind Australia’s Kurtis Marschall who took bronze.
Since then, Duplantis has proved unstoppable on his way to three world titles and two Olympic gold medals.
Karalis was the first to congratulate him, the pair sharing a big hug before Duplantis ran around the stadium, bowing to the Japanese fans chanting his name.
The 25-year-old had earlier entered the competition at the opening height of 5m 55cm, child’s play for a man who lives in a different stratosphere to any other pole vaulter in history.
Not only did he clear it with ease, it looked as though he had a metre to spare.
While the fastest man in pole vault showed some frustrations as he cleared bar after bar, including a slight wobble in his run-up for 5m95, still they were dispatched with ease.
Gold was clinched when he cleared 6m 15cm and Karalis failed a final bid at 6m 20cm.
Consider this was a field that featured four of the six highest vaulters in history and still it was not close – his world record jump was 30 centimetres clear of the field.
Like Bubka, the previous greatest pole vaulter of all, Duplantis is improving the world record incrementally, one centimetre at a time.
The only thing that might be beyond him is Bubka’s tally of 35 world records. That would involve taking the bar to 6m 51cm.
That seems like a fanciful objective but when it comes to Duplantis, it pays to believe in the impossible.
Follow all the action from the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 on BBC
