Paris 2024 athletics: Get to know Swedish star Mondo Duplantis

Athletics events begin on 1 August, so it’s time you got to know Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis from Sweden. He is as dominant over pole vault like swimmer Katie Ledecky is over the 1500m freestyle and Simone Biles is over, well, everything in gymnastics.

But pole vaulters aren’t as well known, so here’s what you should know about this Swedish superstar.

He completely owns pole vault

Duplantis first broke the world record in February of 2020. Since then, he has won an Olympic gold medal, four World Championships (two indoor and two outdoor), and has lowered the record eight times, centimetre by centimetre.

Duplantis was born in the United States

His mother is Swedish and was a heptathlete and volleyball player, while his father was a pole vaulter from the U.S. Not surprisingly, Duplantis and his siblings all played sports. They all pole vaulted, but the rest tried other sports. Mondo stuck with his father’s sport.

Maybe it should be spelled Mondeaux

Growing up in Louisiana, Mondo has Cajun roots and stayed close to home when he chose college. He went to LSU, the same school as athletes like Sha’Carri Richardson, Seimone Augustus and Shaquille O’Neal.

His connection to Sweden is strong

Duplantis spent his summers in Sweden as a child and learned to speak a bit of Swedish then. He moved to Sweden after college and is now dating a Swedish model by the name of Desiré Inglander.