To beat Armand Duplantis once in a lifetime was extraordinary enough, but Kurtis Marschall must feel that defeating him twice in a season was always a dream too far.
Marschall entered rarefied territory in June when he became the first man to outleap the great Duplantis in 40 events stretching back to 2023 - and in 'Mondo's' Stockholm backyard, too.
But, apart from one injury retirement in London since then, normal service has been resumed in the most merciless fashion with the Swede going unbeaten, culminating in his latest Diamond League masterclass on the banks of Lake Geneva in Lausanne on Thursday night.
In a pop-up event near the Olympic Museum on the eve of the main meeting, the Swede was the star attraction as usual as he defeated all the usual suspects, including Marschall, who was back to reality after winning his third-straight Commonwealth Games title in Glasgow.
The Adelaide vaulter had to settle for third place with a fine 5.91 metre clearance while Greek star Emmanouil Karalis soared over 6.16m, an exceptional vault that only Duplantis has ever bettered yet still not enough to topple the king.
For Olympic and world champ Duplantis soared over 6.21m and then came close to raising his world record by a centimetre to 6.32m, failing narrowly with two attempts.
It would have been Duplantis's 16th world mark but wasn't to be. "I'm tired," he said, laughing.
"But no, I feel really good. I feel really happy. Just such an amazing competition. Everybody jumped so well, and so I just felt like I really had to step it up, and I'm glad I just jumped really well and I jumped really high."
The Swede, perhaps not at his absolute sharpest after winning a fourth-straight European title in Birmingham last week, has his eyes set on the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship title next month in Budapest.
