He may be in the early stages of his pole vault career, but Armand “Mondo” Duplantis has already scaled the summit of his sport.
The Swede broke his own world record in February, first jumping 6.17 meters in Poland before clearing 6.18 in Scotland the following weekend.
That was three months after his 20th birthday and five months before he was due to jump at the Olympics for the first time.
The coronavirus outbreak has shelved his Olympic aspirations for now, the postponement coming shortly after headlines had heralded him as the next Usain Bolt and tipped him to light up Tokyo.
But for Duplantis, who started pole vaulting at the age of three in his parents’ backyard in Louisiana, writing his name into the sport’s record books has always been the dream.
“When I first started pole vaulting, I had big aspirations. I wanted to be the best to ever live and I always wanted to break the world record,” he tells CNN Sport.
“I always thought that I was capable of it, too. I was pretty confident in my abilities, but I wasn’t sure that it would come as soon as it did … It’s hard to believe sometimes that I am the world record holder.”
His reaction to the first world record — limbs flapping, his face a picture of ecstatic disbelief as he climbs into the stands to embrace his mom — is proof Duplantis hardly expected such success at this stage of his career.
Celebrations were more assured second time around in Glasgow — hands tucked under the armpits akin to French striker Kylian Mbappe — but even now the words Mondo Duplantis, world record holder, haven’t quite sunk in.
“When I talk to (Renaud) Lavillenie or when I look at (Sergey) Bubka (previous pole vault world record holders), it still feels like they’re the guys,” he says.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s still real that it’s actually me. But it is, and I have to get used to it. It’s cool — I can’t complain.”
The summer may not have panned out the way Duplantis anticipated, but he has recently returned to competitive action in Europe.
