Mondo Duplantis wants to take pole vault to new heights, literally. The 25-year-old world record holder continues to raise the bar with an ultimate goal of 6.40 meters in mind for the future.
He would be very, very rich if he can pull it off!
Duplantis already reached the pinnacle of track and field in the pole vault. Nobody in history has more six-meter clearances and the only person who might be able to one day catch him is only 12 years old. Sweden’s most dominant athlete will continue to reign as the greatest of all-time for a very long time.
As things currently stand, Duplantis claims 20 gold medals at the most important competitions in track and field. He became the reigning back-to-back gold medalist at the Olympics before the age of 25 with two world championships and three European championships. He also holds all of the world records.
Duplantis most recently scammed World Athletics out of another $100,000 by just barely breaking his own record, again, in his home country earlier this month. It came as a bit of a surprise.
I didn’t feel like my best, it was probably the worst that I felt for a world record jump, honestly, before. I felt like I was a little bit all over the place on the day and a little bit inconsistent. But then I hit the right jump at the right time, which I guess is the most important in pole vaulting.
— Armand Duplantis
And yet, he still cleared a height of 6.28 meters with a few centimeters to spare.
Mondo Duplantis has more six-meter clearances than any other pole vaulter in history. The next goal is to hit 6.30 meters.
I’ve always believed that I’m able to keep pushing higher and of course I’ve shown now that I’m very, very close to 6.30 meters. I want to keep pushing and I want to get to 6.30 meters as soon as possible.
— Armand Duplantis
World Athletics will have to pay Duplantis another $100,000 if and when he clears the 6.30-mark. The governing body of track and field must also be prepared to pay him out in the future because he is not going to stop at 6.30. His goal is to one day get up and over a bar set to 6.40 meters.
I’d like to get to 6.40 meters, that would be another crazy barrier of course and that also feels like in the realm of possibility for me.
— Armand Duplantis
Mondo Duplantis broke the world record at 6.17, 6.18, 6.19, 6.20, 6.21, 6.22, 6.23, 6.24, 6.25, 6.26, 6.27 and 6.28. The last person to break a world record was Renaud Lavillenie of France in 2014 at 6.16. There is nobody else in pole vault who can touch the reigning 12-time world record holder. He competes against himself at every meet and plans to do so until he clears 6.40 meters. That would be sick.