By Emma Petzoldt, Year 12
Armand “Mondo” Duplantis is a Swedish-American pole vaulter, born on November 10, 1999. He holds the pole vaulting world record and has won eight senior titles, including two Olympic gold medals, three World Outdoor Championships, and three World Indoor Championships. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pole vaulters of all time, Duplantis has redefined the limits of the sport.
From a young age, Duplantis seemed destined for greatness in pole vaulting. His father, Greg Duplantis, was a former elite pole vaulter, while his mother, Helena, was a former heptathlete, leading Armand into the world of athletics early on. Growing up in Lafayette, Louisiana, he started pole vaulting as a toddler. With a pole vaulting pit in his backyard, he became obsessed with the sport and began clearing impressive heights for his age. Duplantis set his first age-group world best at seven years old with a jump of 3.68 meters. Three years later, he surpassed the previous world bests for ages eleven and twelve. By the time he turned twelve, he held the world bests in every age category from seven to twelve years old. These achievements set the stage for Duplantis’s professional career.
Duplantis’s professional career began in June 2019, after competing collegiately for Louisiana State University (LSU). Around the same time, he officially began competing for Sweden, his mother’s home country, which surprised many fans, especially in the United States. Some have speculated that the decision was influenced by Sweden’s different age restrictions, which allowed him to compete in senior championships earlier, as well as the opportunity for his father to coach him on the Swedish national team. Furthermore, representing Sweden was financially more lucrative, as the sport is more popular and better supported there than in the US.
Even though Duplantis is only twenty six years old, his accomplishments suggest a much longer career. Since 2020, he has broken the world record fourteen times. One of the most significant moments came when he first broke the world record, surpassing Renaud Lavillenie’s mark of 6.16 meters set six years earlier. Duplantis achieved this milestone at just twenty years old. He continued to raise the record in both indoor and outdoor competitions, often by just one centimeter. On September 15, 2025, in Tokyo, he set a new record of 6.30 meters, concluding an incredible year in which he won all sixteen of his competitions.
Beyond his performances, Armand Duplantis has distinguished himself through major sponsorships, including with energy drink and extreme sports brand Red Bull. Fluent in both English and Swedish, he represents the increasingly international nature of modern sports. His success has helped renew attention to track and field, particularly pole vaulting, inspiring many young athletes around the globe to try the event.
Still early in his career, Armand Duplantis shows no signs of slowing down. With his combination of talent, work ethic, and ambition, he is not only shaping the present of pole vaulting but also setting the standard for its future.
