Paris Olympics: Gold and world record inevitable when Duplantis takes flight

Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis fulfills childhood fantasy by winning Olympic gold, setting records, and achieving era-defining sporting feats.

Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis will later say he had been preparing for the moment all his life. “Back when I was just a kid jumping in my backyard in Louisiana, I’d think about this all the time. I’d imagine I was jumping for an Olympic gold and also the World record.”

Most kids have fantasies about era-defining sporting achievements. It doesn’t go much beyond that.

Not for Mondo. The 24-year-old will — in that order — win the Olympic gold medal, set the Olympic record and then break the World record.

Mondo already has the World record. He also has nine of the ten best vaults of all time. And he already has the Olympic gold medal. But that came in Tokyo — a competition Mondo will describe as the ‘high pressure practice session’.

It’s not what childhood fantasies are made of. Now, Monday evening at the Stade de Paris was another thing.

When he had the height of the pole vault bar set at 6.25m — 1cm more than his own World record — he had the entire crowd of 69,000 cheering him on.

With his first vault on Monday evening, Duplantis officially registered a mark in the men’s pole vault competition. With his third, he placed himself on the podium. With his fourth, he had won an Olympic gold medal. With his fifth he broke the Olympic record, clearing 6.10m. For his sixth vault, he had the bar set at 6.25m, a new World record.