Pole vault star Mondo Duplantis: “I would like to jump over 6.30m”
The greatest pole vaulter of all time has made a habit of breaking world records. At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the world watched Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis leap to his second consecutive gold as he set a new mark for an astounding ninth time.
The 6.25 meters at the Stade de France was the highest mark ever vaulted in history. He had manifested that Olympic moment in his mind by using mental rehearsal many, many times. When it finally happened, it was exactly as he had imagined as a young boy.
“I visualized this exact situation happening 1000 times in my head. I feel like that was almost every time I went out to the backyard, and I went jumping I would visualize this exact situation - it was world record height, Olympic final,” Duplantis tells Olympics.com, on how he had been readying himself for his biggest career moment.
He is now one of two male pole vaulters with two Olympic titles, alongside American Bob Richards, who also won back-to-back at the Helsinki 1952 Games and at Melbourne 1956.
But the Swedish star’s legacy is still far from over. He will certainly continue raising the bar and having fun while at it.
“I know I can jump higher, and I want to jump a lot higher,” he shares with us.
“I would like to jump over 6.30m.”
Mondo Duplantis: "I visualised this exact situation 1000 times in my head."
When he began playing at the little vaulting pit in the backyard that his father Greg Duplantis set up in their home in Lafayette, Louisiana, it was a fun thing for the toddler.
But as his father, a 5.80m pole vaulter, continued sharing a family obsession with his son, it grew in him. The young Duplantis passionately cultivated his jumping, with his father as coach. The feeling was almost innate as Mondo's mother, Helena, was a heptathlete and also used to competing at high jump.
Whenever the young Duplantis prepped for his jumps, he would look up to the bar, imagine the crowds cheering him on and feel their energy as he ran down the runway.
Nearly two decades later, he recreated that moment.
“When I was sitting on the back of the runway,” the 24-year-old explained of the final moments before his last attempt at the Stade de France, “I felt like I'd been there 1000 times because I've been visualizing this moment for such a long time.
“I've visualized and dreamt of this moment since I was just a little kid, like looking at the world record height at the Olympic final. For it to actually happen, the way that it did, especially in that stadium with the most amazing crowd that I've ever been a part of, it’s kind of hard to beat. And I'm okay with that. I don't think I really need to beat it because it’s probably not really beatable.”
Mondo Duplantis on his new target
It was only unsurpassable at that record-setting instant, when it was all still fresh in his mind. Understandably, so he’s still very much “living in the moment”.
Duplantis remains highly competitive, mainly with himself, keen to see how high he can reach.
His pole vaulting consistency has been unmatched. The world record holder’s last defeat was in June 2023, when he finished fourth at the Diamond League in Monaco, meaning he has topped 30 of his last 31 competition events.
His opponents struggle to keep up. In Paris, a jump of 6m was enough to win him the gold as his closest challenger American Sam Kendricks, the silver medallist, could only clear 5.95. Duplantis first aimed for the Olympic record which he surpassed with his 6.10m vault, before landing the world record at the third and final attempt.
The rest of the men’s pole vault may not quite catch-up, for now, but the same way he drives them, they bring out the best in him.
"[They] are a great group of guys that we're jumping with, and it makes it so much more enjoyable that you have this very healthy balance where we're competitors. We want to beat each other every time we step out on the track, there's no there's no doubt about that. But also having that mutual respect for each other after the competition's over or maybe I jump another height, and I've already won, them cheering me on, pushing me and wanting me to go higher. That means the world to me. And it's very special”
They will be there cheering him to more historic greatness. What's next? “over 6.30m, blah, blah…” he joked, in his usual way of not looking at his world record as a limit but just a personal best that can be improved.