Armand Duplantis facts for kids
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Duplantis in 2023
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| Nickname(s) | Mondo | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |
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| Born | 10 November 1999 Lafayette, Louisiana, U.S. |
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| Education | Lafayette High School | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.81 m | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Country | Sweden | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Pole vault | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | Louisiana State University | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Upsala IF | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Greg and Helena Duplantis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Highest world ranking |
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| Personal best(s) | Pole vault: 6.28 m (2025, WR) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Armand Gustav Duplantis (born 10 November 1999), also known as Mondo Duplantis, is a Swedish-American pole vaulter. He competes for Sweden and is considered the greatest pole vaulter of all time. Mondo holds the current world record at 6.28 meters.
He has won many major titles, including two Olympic gold medals (in 2020 and 2024). He is also a two-time World outdoor champion (2022, 2023) and a three-time World indoor champion (2022, 2024, 2025). Duplantis is also the current European champion.
Mondo started winning big competitions when he was just 15 years old, at the 2015 World Youth Championships. He later won the European U20 title in 2017 and the World U20 title in 2018. He is one of the few athletes ever to win World Championship titles at youth, junior, and senior levels.
Duplantis has cleared six meters or higher more times than any other pole vaulter in history. He has set 12 world records. He has steadily increased the world record from 6.17 meters in 2020 to his current record of 6.28 meters in 2025.
Contents
Early Life and Family
Armand Gustav Duplantis was born on November 10, 1999, in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States. He comes from a family of athletes. His American father, Greg Duplantis, was a pole vaulter. His Swedish mother, Helena, was a heptathlete and volleyball player.
Mondo grew up speaking mostly English but also learned Swedish. He spent his summers visiting his Swedish grandparents. His older brothers, Andreas and Antoine, and younger sister, Johanna, also played sports. Andreas was a pole vaulter for Sweden. Antoine played baseball and became a top player at Louisiana State University.
Duplantis finished Lafayette High School in 2018. He then went to Louisiana State University, like his parents and brothers. However, he left in 2019 after his first year to become a professional athlete.
Starting His Pole Vault Journey
Mondo first tried pole vaulting at age four in his family's backyard in Louisiana. He quickly became very good at it. By age seven, he set his first world best for his age group. When he was 10, his jump of 3.86 meters was better than the previous world records for 11 and 12-year-olds.
His nickname, "Mondo," means "world" in Italian. His father's friend, who was Italian, gave him the nickname when he was very young. It was first "Mondo Man" and then shortened to "Mondo." This nickname seems to have predicted his future success in the sport.
Competing for Sweden
In June 2015, Duplantis decided to compete for Sweden. He has citizenship in both the United States and Sweden. He chose Sweden partly because his older brother had good experiences representing Sweden. He also loved Sweden from his childhood visits.
Mondo first represented Sweden at the 2015 World Youth Championships in Cali, Colombia. He won a gold medal by clearing 5.30 meters on his first try. This set a new championship record.
Breaking Junior Records
On February 11, 2017, Mondo cleared 5.75 meters at the Millrose Games. This set a new world indoor junior record. A month later, he improved his indoor record to 5.82 meters.
On April 1, he jumped 5.90 meters at the Texas Relays. This was a new World U20 Record, beating the old record by a huge 10 centimeters. It also became a new Swedish senior record.
In July 2017, at the 2017 European Athletics U20 Championships in Italy, Duplantis won gold. He set a new championship record of 5.65 meters.
Becoming a Senior Champion
In 2018, Mondo started his season by clearing 5.83 meters indoors. On February 25, he jumped 5.88 meters, setting a new world U20 indoor record.
At the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships in Finland, Duplantis won gold. He broke the championship record with a vault of 5.82 meters.
On August 12, 2018, Duplantis made history at the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany. He cleared an amazing 6.05 meters to win gold. This was his first major senior title. He was only 18 years old, making him the youngest ever to win a men's field event at this championship. He also became the youngest to join the exclusive "6.00 meter club." Even the legendary Sergey Bubka didn't clear 6.00 meters until he was 21.
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College and Professional Career
Mondo attended Louisiana State University in 2019. He competed 10 times in pole vault. He set new college records both indoors and outdoors. He won indoor and outdoor titles in the SEC. He also won the NCAA Division I indoor title.
In June 2019, Duplantis decided to become a professional athlete. This meant he would no longer compete for his college team.
Setting World Records
On October 1, 2019, Duplantis won a silver medal at the 2019 IAAF World Championships in Doha, Qatar, clearing 5.97 meters.
On February 8, 2020, Duplantis broke Renaud Lavillenie's world record by jumping 6.17 meters in Poland. Just a week later, on February 15, he increased the record to 6.18 meters in Glasgow.
On September 17, 2020, Mondo broke Sergey Bubka's outdoor world best of 6.14 meters. He cleared 6.15 meters at the Rome Golden Gala. Since 1998, the world record for pole vault can be set either indoors or outdoors.
Olympic Gold and More Records
At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo (held in 2021), Duplantis won his first Olympic gold medal. He cleared 6.02 meters. Other athletes praised him, saying he was like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo in football because of how much better he was than everyone else.
On March 7, 2022, he broke his own world record again, jumping 6.19 meters in Belgrade. Two weeks later, at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade, he won gold and broke his world record once more, jumping 6.20 meters.
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On July 24, 2022, Mondo broke his world record yet again at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. He jumped 6.21 meters to win gold. This was his fifth world record and his first set outdoors. He also won gold at the 2022 European Athletics Championships in Munich, setting a championship record of 6.06 meters.
In 2023, Duplantis continued to dominate. On February 25, he broke the world record again, clearing 6.22 meters in France. On August 26, he defended his world title at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, with a jump of 6.10 meters. On September 17, he broke his own world record again, clearing 6.23 meters in Eugene, Oregon.
Paris Olympics and New Milestones
In March 2024, Duplantis won his second world indoor title at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, with a vault of 6.05 meters. On April 20, he improved his world record by one centimeter, clearing 6.24 meters in China.
On June 12, he won the 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome, clearing 6.10 meters. This was his 60th time clearing six meters or higher in a competition. The next best athlete in history, Sergey Bubka, had 44 such jumps.
At the Paris Olympics on August 5, 2024, Duplantis won his second Olympic gold medal. He cleared 6.00 meters, then 6.10 meters to break the Olympic record. Finally, he jumped 6.25 meters, setting a new world record. He became the first male pole vaulter since Bob Richards in the 1950s to win two Olympic golds.
On August 25, 2024, in Poland, Duplantis improved his world record for the tenth time in his career, increasing it to 6.26 meters. This was his third world record in 2024.
On February 28, 2025, Duplantis broke his world record for the 11th time, clearing 6.27 meters in France. On March 22, 2025, he won his third world indoor title at the 2025 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, with a height of 6.15 meters. This win also meant he had cleared six meters or higher 102 times in his career, far more than anyone else.
On June 15, 2025, Duplantis set his 12th world record, clearing 6.28 meters at a Diamond League meeting in Stockholm Olympic Stadium, Sweden. This was his first world record set in his home country. His name will be etched on the "Stadion Walk of Fame" at the historic stadium.
Awards and Recognition
Mondo Duplantis has received many awards for his amazing achievements. In July 2020, he received the Victoria Award, Sweden's highest sports honor. He also won the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal in 2020 and 2024, and the Jerring Award in 2020, which means he was the most popular athlete in Sweden.
He has won several awards from World Athletics, including "Rising Star of the Year" in 2018. He was named "World Athlete of the Year" in 2020, 2022, and 2023 (for field events). He also won "European Athlete of the Year" in 2022 and 2024. In 2024, he was named "BBC World Sport Star of the Year."
In April 2025, Duplantis won the Laureus World Sports Award for Sportsman of the Year. He is only the second track-and-field athlete, after Usain Bolt, to win this prestigious award.
Personal Life
Duplantis works hard to improve his Swedish language skills. He often practices speaking Swedish with his mother. He divides his time between Louisiana in the winter and Uppsala in Sweden during the summer for training.
The town of Avesta, where his mother grew up, put up a pole vault bar next to a giant Dala horse monument. This bar shows the height of his world record, which made Duplantis very emotional.
Duplantis is engaged to Swedish model Desiré Inglander. They met in Sweden in 2020 and announced their engagement in October 2024.
In February 2025, Mondo released his first song, "Bop," under the name Mondo. The song was played at a pole vault meeting where he set a new world record.
Images for kids
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Duplantis in 2023
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Duplantis pole-vaulting at the 2018 World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, United Kingdom
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18-year-old Duplantis won his first major senior title at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin, Germany.
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Duplantis jumps 6.00 m at 2019 Finland-Sweden International in Stockholm, Sweden.
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Father and coach Greg Duplantis (left) with Armand Duplantis in 2019
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Duplantis at the 2020 BAUHAUS-galan meeting in Stockholm
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Duplantis pole-vaulting at the 2022 European Championships in Munich
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Duplantis with his gold medal at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary
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Armand Duplantis, pole vaulting qualification, 3 August 2024, Paris 2024 Olympics
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The bar next to the Dala horse in Avesta, Sweden, is raised every time Duplantis breaks his world record. (photo from April 2024)
See also
In Spanish: Armand Duplantis para niños
