Athletics
The competitive edge that's turned Armand Duplantis into a global phenom
Few athletes are so good that they become the reason crowds flock to see a sport. Usain Bolt was one. Mondo Duplantis is another. This is the upward trajectory of Armand Duplantis.
Pole-vaulter Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis laughs a lot. That’s what he does when asked if he runs through a mental checklist before one of his history-defying jumps. “No,” he replies. “My brain is on autopilot once I’m in the air. All the real work was put in long before that. And once I feel the impact of the pole in the box, I pretty much know if the jump’s going to be successful or not.”
Few world-class athletes have enjoyed a run of success like Duplantis. Since the beginning of 2020, he has broken the world record nine times, most recently, soaring to 6.26m at the Silesia Diamond League Meeting in Poland, just two weeks after setting a new world record in Paris and winning Olympic gold. Along the way, the natural showman, who has represented Sweden since 2015, has won three world championships, four Diamond League season titles and entered the exclusive six-metre-high club more than 70 times.
To put that into perspective, from the turn of the millennium until the summer of 2023, only nine vaulters exceeded six metres. And then there’s the gold medal he brought home from Toyko in 2021. It’s unsurprising that Duplantis has been compared to another phenomenon of athletics – Usain Bolt.
Duplantis regularly soars above six metres
© Richard Ström/Red Bull Content Pool
Duplantis set his first world record at the age others learn to ride a bike
It’s a long way from his youth in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA. The son of two elite athletes – his American father was a pole vaulter who was a reserve for the 1996 US Olympic squad and his Swedish mother was a standout heptathlete and volleyball player – Mondo started messing around with a pole at the age of three and set the first of many age-group world records at seven. He has been on a tear ever since.
“In some ways, it feels like this will be my first time at the Games,” says Duplantis, explaining how competing during the pandemic didn’t deliver the full experience. “No one was there to watch, so it didn’t feel complete. This time it’s going to be huge, so I have a lot of fire and motivation going into this one.”
Learn more about Mondo
Vaulting over these earthbound entities is easy for Mondo Duplantis
© The Red Bulletin
What is pole vault and what does it take to be good at it?
The pole vault is certainly a curious discipline by track-and-field standards. “It’s like a circus act – a combination of several different track events into one,” he says. “You need a sprinter’s speed, gymnastics ability, kinaesthetic awareness and an aptitude for technical precision.”
Duplantis has all of these talents in spades, plus an intense work ethic and also a sort of physical restraint. These days, with an eye on his longevity, he only jumps about once a week, filling his training days with speed work and lifting, plus gymnastic and technical workouts.
His world record currently stands at 6.23m
© Flo Hagena/Red Bull Content Pool
When I’m competing, something happens inside me. I turn into a different person
When asked if he feels enormous pressure to beat his own world record, Duplantis laughs again. “I really don’t think of the next height as a world record,” he says. “I think about it as a personal best, something I’ve done so many times before, just by getting a little bit better. I try not to make things bigger than they need to be.” In that spirit, much of his success stems from a determination for balance in his life.
He trains hard, eats clean and exudes competitive fire, but is far from being a single-minded robot. “Mentally, I need to live my life like I’m free and not in a box,” he says, describing his passion for hip-hop and golf, as well as the joys of hanging out with his girlfriend, family and friends on two continents.
He also barely counts reps and doesn’t sweat an occasional burger. But don’t be fooled by his easy-going approach to life. “When I’m competing, something happens inside me,” he says with a sly smile. “I turn into a different person.”
Watch the new documentary on Duplantis’s awe-inspiring story of vaulting from child prodigy to global icon: Born to Fly on Red Bull TV.