Armand "Mondo" Duplantis (born 10 November 1999)[3] is a Swedish-American pole vaulter who is regarded as the greatest pole vaulter of all time.[4][5] Duplantis is the world outdoor and indoor record holder (6.26 metres or 20 feet 6 inches, and 6.22 metres or 20 feet 5 inches, respectively). He is a two-time Olympic (2020 and 2024) champion, two-time World outdoor (2022 and 2023) and indoor champion, and the current European champion.
Duplantis won titles as a 15-year-old at the 2015 World Youth Championships. A year later, he placed third at the World U20 Championships. In 2017, he took the European U20 title, and the following year, World U20 title. Duplantis is one of the very few athletes in history (including Usain Bolt) to win world championships at the youth, junior, and senior level of the athletics event.[6]
Duplantis is a three-time European champion from 2018, when he set the current world under-20 record, and from 2022 and 2024. European and World Athletics Male Rising Star of the Year in 2018, two years later he was voted World Male Athlete of the Year. He was the 2021 European Indoor Championships gold medalist and at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Duplantis won his first Olympic gold medal. For his 2022 season, which saw him break world records three times, becoming World outdoor and indoor champion, European and Diamond League champion, and clearing six-metre-plus 22 times, Duplantis was crowned both European and World Male Athlete of the Year. Duplantis is a four-time Diamond League Champion, having qualified for and won the pole vault Diamond League Final event in four consecutive years, from 2021 to 2024.
As of August 2024[update], Duplantis has cleared six metres or higher in competition more times than any athlete in history, including the ten highest heights of all time.[7][8] After Renaud Lavillenie cleared 6.16 m (20 ft 2+1/2 in) in 2014, Duplantis has cleared every height from 6.17 m to his current world record of 6.26 m.