Swedish pole vaulter Armand 'Mondo' Duplantis, who has broken the world record eight times, is looking for his second Olympic gold medal in Paris.
he best pole vaulter in, say, the United States can walk into any crowded downtown square and go entirely unrecognized. Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, of Sweden, can’t enjoy such anonymity in his country. To be fair, Duplantis isn’t just the best pole vaulter in Sweden. He’s the best in the world, and in fact, the best to ever hurl himself 20 feet in the air to clear a bar, having broken the world record on eight different occasions.
of Sweden? “It sounds really weird to say it like that, but in a kind of way, yeah,” says Duplantis, 24, during a video interview in mid-July from Stockholm, where he was preparing for Paris. Duplantis competes in the men's pole vault final at the 26th European Athletics Championships in Rome on June 12, 2024.Duplantis earns between $30,000 and $100,000 every time he sets a new world record. So he strategically raises the bar by a single centimeter to break it as often as he can. “I think I would be lying if I didn’t say that was a part of it,” Duplantis says of the financial considerations.
Dupantis refuses to generate a headline by declaring himself the most dominant Olympic athlete you’ll see in Paris. “It's hard for me to compare apples and oranges,” says the Swedish diplomat. Though he doesn’t demure when told that at least one media knucklehead is prepared to make a case. “I appreciate it,” Duplantis responds.
Plus, he’s a standout in Sweden, as opposed to another niche sport athlete in the United States, which tends to reserve its idolatry for basketball and football players. Duplantis’ sponsors include Puma, Omega, the Swedish electric-car manufacturer Polestar, a Swedish dental chain called Aqua Dental, and CapitalBox, a Finish fintech company.
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