There was even more drama on Monday at the World Athletics Championships. It was the last event of the evening: the men’s pole vault final. Armand Duplantis of Sweden was the world record holder. Emmanouil Karalis of Greece kept up with him to the 6-meter mark, but Duplantis jumped higher and won the gold medal. But it wasn’t over. Duplantis raised the bar to 6.30 meters. He was going for a new world record! There were 50,000 people in the stadium, and they all stayed to watch one man. He missed the first jump. He missed the second jump. Then, on his third try, he flew over the bar and set a new world record! Everyone was cheering.   (117 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

Oda Tokito is amazing! He is only 19 years old, but he already has a career Golden Slam. You need to win the four big tournaments, called Grand Slams, and an Olympic or a Paralympic gold medal. He had already won Wimbledon, the French Open, and the Australian Open, and he had a gold medal from the Paris Paralympics last year. On Saturday, he did it! He won the men’s wheelchair singles at the U.S. Open. He wasn’t the only Japanese hero though. Kamiji Yui won the women’s wheelchair singles. She has also had a great season, winning all of the Grand Slams except for Wimbledon. We can look forward to her getting a career Golden Slam, too.  (118 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

I talked about tornadoes in Japan on Monday. Today, I’m going to talk about tornadoes in the U.S. Japan has about 25 tornadoes a year, but the U.S. has about 1,200 tornadoes! Why are there so many tornadoes in the U.S.? It’s because of geography. Many tornadoes are created when cold dry air from the Rocky Mountains meets warm dry air from the Southwest and warm wet air from the Gulf of Mexico. Tornadoes occur from Texas in the south all the way to Minnesota in the north. People often build special underground shelters. That’s because tornado winds are so strong that they can destroy everything above the ground.   (109 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com

There was excitement in Tokyo last weekend. Prince Hisahito, the son of Crown Prince Akishino, had his special coming-of-age ceremony on Saturday. On his way to the ceremony, he waved to the people along the street from the car. They were waving Japanese flags and shouting, “Banzai!” Prince Hisahito is the first prince in 40 years to have this ceremony. At the main ceremony, he wore a long yellow robe. After he greeted the Emperor and other members of the royal family, a special black hat given to him by the Emperor was put on his head. Now Prince Hisahito is an adult.   (103 words) You can send me a comment or your own story at jaremaga@gmail.com