KEY POINTS:
- Sole Figure on Track: The focus of the crowd at Stade de France was entirely on Armand “Mondo” Duplantis.
- Prepares for Attention: Duplantis thrives in moments when the competition is over and all eyes are on him.
- Record Attempts: Before Monday night, Duplantis had broken the world record eight times. One final jump aimed to break it by one more centimeter.
- Final Success: After missing his first two attempts, Duplantis made a critical adjustment with his father and coach, Greg, and succeeded on his third attempt, clearing 6.25 meters (20 feet 6 inches).
- Celebration: The crowd’s reaction was overwhelming, and Duplantis celebrated with his girlfriend, brothers, and other family members.
- Contentment: Duplantis expressed satisfaction with his achievement, stating he would be fine if this moment remained the pinnacle of his career.
- King of Sweden: After the event, Duplantis mingled with Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus, King of Sweden, and his wife, Silvia.
- Pole Vault Genius: Duplantis, originally from Louisiana and competing for Sweden, had previously set the world record in February 2020 and had broken it seven more times since then.
- Rivalries and Records: The competitive part of the night focused on the silver medal, won by American Sam Kendricks. Only three men had ever cleared six meters in the field.
- Historic Performance: Duplantis first set the bar at 6.10 meters, breaking the Olympic record, and then raised it to 6.25 meters, aiming for a new world record.
- Technical Adjustments: After two failed attempts, Duplantis adjusted the standards (uprights) to 62 centimeters, closer to his takeoff point.
- Childhood Practice: Duplantis’s father had built a runway in their backyard, where Mondo practiced imagining world record scenarios.
- Final Jump: Duplantis’s speed and technique allowed him to clear the bar perfectly on his final attempt.
- Personal Achievement: Duplantis reflected on his achievement with satisfaction, focusing on the moment rather than future goals.Mondo Duplantis: Pushing Boundaries at the Paris Olympics
The sole individual on the track was the one everyone had come to witness. Triumph had belonged to Armand “Mondo” Duplantis in every practical sense since he had remembered to bring his poles to Stade de France. He performs on a different level than any other pole vaulter the sport has ever known. He prepares for the moments when the contest is finished, when every eye is on him, and his only opponent is himself.
Duplantis had shattered the world record eight times before Monday evening. One last leap would determine if Duplantis could narrow the gap between man and flight once more, by one additional centimeter.
Duplantis missed on his first two attempts to break his world record. Before his third, he conferred with his father and coach, Greg, and decided on a vital adjustment. He dashed down the runway, soared into the night, and became one of the timeless athletes of the Paris Olympics.
A Louisiana-born pole-vaulting prodigy who attended LSU and competes under the flag of his mother’s native Sweden, Duplantis cleared 6.25 meters (20 feet 6 inches) on his final attempt. The Stade de France stadium lights flickered. The best crowd he had ever seen outside of Tiger Stadium created a delirious wall of sound. He sprinted off the mat to the corner of the stadium, where he embraced his girlfriend and exchanged high-fives with his brothers.
“If I don’t surpass this moment in my career, I’m quite fine with that,” Duplantis said. “I don’t suppose you could do a lot higher than what simply happened.”
Duplantis demanding situations obstacles as lots as any athlete at those Games. For one night, he would be satisfied with a new limit. Duplantis mingled later on at the tune with Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus, the king of Sweden. (“Fam vad cool,” Duplantis said in Swedish — very cool.) He intended to celebrate with family, and his brothers would drag him to karaoke, voice hoarse from interviews and all.
“I’ll possibly have a few liquid braveness and rise up on stage,” Duplantis said.
Duplantis, representing Sweden, meets with Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus, king of Sweden, and his wife Silvia, after setting a world record in the pole vault final at the Olympics.
He had demonstrated himself as the ultimate performer well before Monday. Duplantis first broke the arena document in February 2020, nudging it up one centimeter to 6.17 meters. He has in view that made it his moneymaking plaything. Duplantis had broken it seven more times since, always by a centimeter, maximizing the number of times he can trigger sponsorship bonuses for world records.
Duplantis’s document on the begin of the night time stood at 6.24 meters (20 toes 5¾ inches). Only 3 different guys withinside the discipline had handed a six-meter bar, and American Sam Kendricks had now no longer finished so in 5 years.
The competitive portion of the night focused on the silver medal. Kendricks secured it with a 5.95-meter clearance three years after an experience that embittered him. He examined fantastic for the coronavirus and couldn’t compete on the Tokyo Olympics. Kendricks, the Rio de Janeiro bronze medalist, was upset that a follow-up test he believed cleared him was not used. He was incensed at how he was placed in isolation and, in his mind, discarded.
Kendricks takes satisfaction in his victories over Duplantis, consisting of on the 2019 international championships. He understood that eventually, the prodigy locating his manner could surpass him. “I’m a completely small boogeyman in Mondo’s life,” Kendricks said.
The night at Stade de France gradually led up to Duplantis. The chaos of the women’s 5,000 meters passed. American Valarie Allman claimed her 2d consecutive discus gold medal. Duplantis’s vanquished competitors celebrated their silver and bronze. Only he remained.
First, he set the bar at 6.10 meters, shattering the 6.03-meter Olympic record. Then he asked for the bar to be set at 6.25 meters, higher than it had ever been set before.
On his first attempt, he struck his right elbow on top of the bar. On his second, he achieved the required height but shortly after he began his descent to Earth, his chest hit the bar. He walked to the primary row of the stands and spoke together along with his father.
Pole vaulters are allowed to transport the standards — the uprights that keep the bar in place — nearer or in addition from their takeoff point. Duplantis had taken his first tries on the document with the requirements 70 centimeters farfar from the plant box.
Duplantis had jumped excessive sufficient on his 2d try, however he had now no longer soared a ways sufficient. So Greg devised a solution. Duplantis could pass the requirements from 70 to 60 centimeters — 10 centimeters in the direction of his takeoff.
When Duplantis walked to the official, an intuition overcame him. At many events, the requirements simplest pass in increments of five. With Olympic-level equipment, officials could be as precise as they wanted. Duplantis requested now no longer for the 60 that Greg prescribed however 62.
“It might be cool and a pleasant jab at my father if sixty two turned into the precise number,” Duplantis said.
Once the requirements were reset, Duplantis carried his pole to the returned of the runway and leaned it on his shoulder. When Duplantis changed into a child, Greg, who changed into a pole vaulter at LSU, constructed a runway in his outdoor out of an deserted music he offered for pennies at the dollar. Each time his youngest son ran down it, he imagined a bar set past the sector file on the Olympic final.
“I felt like I had already been in this moment 1,000 times,” Duplantis said.
Now, Duplantis raised his fingers over his head and clapped once. The crowd responded with thunder. Another clap, then another. Faster: Clap. Clap. Clap clap. Clap clap clap clapclapclapclapclapclapclapclapclap.
Duplantis bolted. His extraordinary ability begins with his speed. Many pole vaulters take in the game when they understand they may in no way own the world-elegance pace of a sprinter. Duplantis might have it.
“He runs with God’s hand on his back,” Kendricks said.
The neon yellow pole glowed in his hands. At complete speed, Duplantis jammed the pinnacle of his pole into the plant box.
“You feel the takeoff spot,” Duplantis said. “Right once I hit it on the takeoff, I type of knew.”
Duplantis inverted, rose memories off the ground, twisted his body, and folded himself like a trapdoor. The bar remained still. He floated to the mat and landed with a roar. He hugged his family, and then he walked back to the coach’s box and embraced Greg.
Duplantis had surpassed another limit. Every new mark invitations the query of the way some distance he can fly. He lives his existence to amplify the possible. For one night, Duplantis would embrace what he had done instead of what he could do next.
“I don’t even certainly care proper now,” Duplantis said. “Why would I care about anything else other than what just happened?”