Mondo Duplantis and the Artwork of Making Historical past Glance Simple
“Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.” Mondo Duplantis isn’t simply rewriting the pole vault file books—he’s growing a brand new bankruptcy the place nobody else will even flip the web page. On Friday, February 28, 2025, in Clermont-Ferrand, France, the 24-year-old Olympic and global champion set his eleventh global file, clearing 6.27 meters with an ease that virtually made the unimaginable glance regimen.
His competition? They’re preventing for 2d position in a race that was once made up our minds years in the past. The following excellent jumper in historical past, France’s Renaud Lavillenie, crowned out at 6.16 meters. That was once the gold usual—till Duplantis got here alongside and raised the bar, actually and figuratively. Now, the game isn’t about who wins however how a lot upper Duplantis will move. And if historical past tells us the rest, it’s that he’s now not performed but.
Mondo Duplantis dominates the Males’s PV as soon as once more, photograph by means of Ecu Athletics by the use of Getty Pictures
Observing Duplantis in motion is like looking at a virtuoso at paintings. He entered the contest at 5.65 meters, clearing it with the similar ease as a warmup bounce. Then got here 5.91 meters, 6.02 meters, and six.07 meters, all conquered on his first strive. After which, with the bar at 6.27 meters, he did what he’s performed such a lot of instances prior to—sailed over it, untouched, and landed with a grin that mentioned he wasn’t in the least stunned.
At this level, the one actual query is: How prime can he move? The idea isn’t unfounded. Given his fast development and technical mastery, 6.35 meters turns out imaginable and possible. That might put him in a league of his personal—now not that he isn’t already. Duplantis has redefined pole vaulting in some way few athletes have ever reworked their sports activities. Consider Michael Jordan’s affect on basketball or Usain Bolt’s dominance in sprinting. The variation? Duplantis doesn’t also have a challenger. He’s the usual.
It’s now not on the subject of how prime he jumps however how he does it. Duplantis combines precision with uncooked athleticism, a unprecedented mixture of pace, power, and near-perfect methodology. His manner at the runway appears extra like a sprinter in complete flight than a vaulter getting ready for takeoff. That pace and delicate mechanics permit him to transform horizontal speed into vertical peak higher than somebody who has ever held a pole.
After which there’s his consistency. The most efficient pole vaulters in historical past may hit a lifetime-best bounce a few times of their careers. Duplantis? He’s made breaking global data really feel regimen. He doesn’t simply purpose for private bests—he expects them. That’s why having a bet in opposition to him feels silly. He’s taken a game constructed on appropriate margins and blown the ones margins away.
However possibly probably the most staggering a part of Duplantis’s upward thrust is what it’s performed to the remainder of the sector. Six males cleared 5.91 meters in Clermont-Ferrand—a ancient feat—but none have been ever in competition for first position. Via no fault of their very own, they’re competing in a special festival.
Allow us to start the yr with a Mondo Duplantis interview from his #Silesia assembly, the place he set the arena file! Mondo has a hectic indoor season! We will now not wait to peer the Swedish celebrity! Interview courtesy of #DiamondLeagueAG #PUMA, #MondoDuplantis, #runblogrun, percent.twitter.com/CQgPiJQDJA
That is what true dominance looks as if. It’s now not simply successful—redefining the dialog so completely that successful turns into the expectancy. And when the expectancy is a global file just about each and every time you step at the runway, the game has formally entered a brand new technology.
Mondo Duplantis isn’t simply the most productive pole vaulter of his era. He’s the most productive pole vaulter of any era. And six.35 meters? That’s simply the next move in a profession already pushing the boundaries of what we idea was once imaginable.
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