In a year that, as he himself has emphasized, he could not have imagined even in his wildest dreams, Emmanouil Karalis is preparing to put the cherry on top! And that is none other than his first medal at a World Athletics Championships!

At 13:49 Greek time (live on ERT2, with exclusive coverage of the pole vault final on ERT Sports), the 25-year-old pole vaulter will enter the field of Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium to fight for a spot on the podium at the 20th World Championships. In the very same stadium where, in 2021, he finished fourth at the Olympic Games, he will now chase his first medal in an outdoor World Championships. As he had said before the team’s departure, he will try to push Mondo Duplantis as much as possible.

Karalis is now the top Greek pole vaulter and the fourth-best of all time worldwide! The confidence he has built—having cleared six meters eleven times this year—is undoubtedly giving him wings. Besides the podium, his goal is also a jump higher than 6.08m, a mark that stands as the national record, which he set in Volos during the Greek Championships.

In the final, the athlete coached by Haris Karalis and Marcin Szczepański will face, among others, the phenomenon Mondo Duplantis, who holds the world record at 6.29m. The Swede is certainly the favorite for the gold medal, but in order to hang it around his neck… he must first win the big final!

Karalis is aiming for the seventh medal of his career so far. The 25-year-old has already won an Olympic bronze medal (Paris), a silver (Nanjing) and a bronze (Glasgow) at World Indoor Championships, a gold (Apeldoorn) and a silver (Constantinople) at European Indoors, and a silver (Rome) at a European Outdoor Championship.