Mondo Duplantis aims for ‘dominance’ in the ‘scary sport’ of pole vaulting after breaking the world record multiple times

CNN
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Few athletes can claim to be as dominant in their discipline as Mondo Duplantis, the pole vault star who has broken the world record a staggering seven times.

His latest record of 6.23m, achieved at the world championships last year, is seven centimeters higher than any other in the history of the sport, a testament to his pole vault excellence over the past four years.

Duplantis’ medal haul is also impressive, boasting an Olympic gold and four world championships – two indoors and two outdoors – as she aims for further Olympic success in Paris later this year.

And when it comes to world records, Duplantis promises he’s not done yet.

“I think in the near future I’m hoping to just raise it as little as possible because I think that’s all I have to do for a world record,” he told CNN Sport’s Amanda Davis. “I know I can jump higher. I know I have higher peaks in me.

“I know what I have to do to get to those 6.30-type marks… I want to be dominant in the sport because I know that’s what I’m capable of, trying to win every race and get the most out of myself you’re in every meeting I’m on.

“If I can jump high, jump a world record, then that’s just icing on the top.”

Sporting pedigree runs in the Duplantis family: his father is a former top pole vaulter and his mother a heptathlete competing for Sweden.

He has been pole vaulting almost as long as he has been walking, taking his first steps in the sport as a three-year-old in his parents’ backyard in Lafayette, Louisiana, where a track, bar and crash mat were installed for him and his brothers and sisters to use.

While most athletes would take up the sport in their teenage years, it’s been a lifelong affair for Duplantis, his childhood hobby gradually turning into a successful career.

He will never tire, he explains, of the sensation of going up in the air, bending his body over the bar and falling back to the ground.

“It’s special and I think it’s so hard to compare it to most things,” he says. “But when you do it right, it’s like doing this little pole dance.

“It happens fast. I feel like when I’m on my game and dialed in and everything is where it needs to be, then it’s super cool. It’s like riding a wave.”

One of the more technical events in track and field, the pole vault requires a unique combination of speed, strength and flexibility, although the mental aspect, says Duplantis, is just as important as the physical demands.

“You have to be a bit – or a bit – crazy to dare to pole vault, because in a way it’s a bit of a wacky sport,” he explains.

“You have to have the guts to be able to push yourself and you’re going to be uncomfortable a lot of the time when you’re going up harder poles, longer poles, trying new heights, new barriers all the time. ”

Born and raised in Louisiana, Duplantis holds dual Swedish and American citizenship, but competes for his mother’s home country on the international circuit.

He is the heavy favorite to defend his gold medal at the Paris Olympics, which officially start on July 26, but had to work hard to win a second world indoor title last month after failing twice at 5.85m – a height he usually expected to clear with ease.

In the end, he managed to record a world-leading height of 6.05m, 15cm clear of American Sam Kendricks in second place and 20cm ahead of Greece’s Emmanuel Karalis in third place.

Duplantis later admitted it was the hardest he’s ever worked on a race, though he’ll be hoping his races go more smoothly as he heads into the outdoor season with the Olympics looming.

But when things don’t go as planned, Duplantis would do well to recall his long history with the pole vault, even though the stakes are higher now and the audience is much bigger than when he first took up the sport.

“It’s still the same old pole vault,” he says. “The same event I’ve been doing since I was a little kid jumping around in my backyard. I’m getting better as the year goes on, which is a really great thing. I’m definitely living the dream.”