Dev Meena raises pole vault bar by breaking national record for a third time in 2025

India’s Dev Kumar Meena broke the men’s pole vault national record in the qualifying rounds of the FISU World University Games 2025 in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany, on Friday.

Dev Kumar Meena cleared a new personal best of 5.40m with his second attempt at the mark to surpass his own previous record of 5.35m registered at the Federation Cup in Kochi earlier this year.

In fact, this is the third time that the 20-year-old has broken the Indian pole vault national record this year. He had come into possession of the record with a 5.32m leap at the National Games 2025, surpassing Subramani Siva’s 5.31m from 2022.

Meena, an Asian U20 bronze medal winner, is currently the youngest athletics national record holder from India.

Drawn in Group A of the qualifiers, Meena cleared 5.05m and 5.25m with his first cracks before shattering the record with his second try.

The mark placed him fifth in his group and ensured he qualified for the men’s pole vault final on Sunday.

A total of 12 athletes qualified for the medal round.

India have won five medals so far at the World University Games 2025 in Germany.

Indian archers claimed one gold, a silver and a bronze earlier in the day. Vaishnavi Adkar clinched a bronze in the women’s singles tennis event on Thursday, while the Indian badminton mixed team won a bronze on July 20.

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