Mondo Duplantis: How the Swede Keeps Defying Gravity, Alien Talent and Where It Might End

A British double-decker bus stands at 4.5 meters tall, which gives you a sense of the immense strength, willpower, and perhaps a touch of madness required to soar to such heights without wings, a feat that is child's play for the 25-year-old Mondo Duplantis, born in Louisiana.

Mondo Duplantis performs with such effortless grace, a poetic fluidity in his movements and jumps that it almost makes us believe we could do it too. But we cannot, unless we are looking for a broken neck.

His journey of rewriting history began as a seven-year-old in his backyard. After just a few months, he set an age-group record of 2.33 meters that remains unbroken to this day. A mere decade later, he cleared 6.30m!

What sets Mondo Duplantis apart from everyone else? Speed! This is the crucial factor distinguishing Mondo Duplantis from other elite pole vaulters. The primary objective in pole vaulting is energy production.

The formula is simple: the faster you are, the more kinetic energy you generate. Duplantis takes 20 steps on a 40-45 meter runway, reaching a maximum speed of 37 kilometres per hour (10.3 meters per second).

In comparison, other vaulters achieve speeds of 33.8 to 34.9 km/h. For context, Usain Bolt's top speed was 44.72 km/h, and Kylian Mbappé's is 38 km/h.

So, in ideal conditions, a Real Madrid footballer might theoretically beat Duplantis in a pole vault. But let's not forget that the Swede runs with a 5.27-meter-long, 190-gram pole in his hands, which, at a speed of 38 kilometres per hour, he must perfectly plant into the 'box' at the end of the runway.

The pole Mondo Duplantis uses is made from composite materials, primarily fibreglass and carbon fibre. These materials are lightweight, flexible, and durable, allowing for optimal elasticity and energy transfer during the vault. Older pole models were made of bamboo or aluminium.

In pole vaulting, the 'box' refers to a metal trough, so to speak, into which the vaulter must place the tip of the pole before the jump.

According to World Athletics specifications, this space is 108.4 cm long and 60 cm wide at the front, tapering to 15 cm at the very bottom. The top of the "box" is set 14 cm below the runway surface, and it has a curved plate at the back for securing the pole.

However, this presents a huge challenge. You do not just drop the pole in front of you wherever it lands; you must do it with control and perfect timing. If everything is executed correctly, as Mondo Duplantis demonstrated in Tokyo, the vaulter will be in an ideal position for 'takeoff.'

Most vaulters will plant the end of the pole directly into the 'box.' But Duplantis allows the pole to slide along the runway. This enables him to maintain maximum speed in the final few steps. When he pushes off the ground, his foot is about 20-30 cm ahead of his hand.

This allows him to utilize the speed generated during his approach, transferring some of that energy to the pole, which begins to bend before he leaves the ground. Again, timing must be perfect.

Once airborne, the vaulter pushes the pole upward and forward while fully extended. Duplantis swings his "bottom leg" through the pole, creating a small circle, staying behind the pole.

Mondo Duplantis's rapid rotation adds energy as the pole bends. As the pole begins to straighten, Duplantis is completely inverted and rotates his body 180 degrees to face away from the runway, all while still powerfully pressing on the pole.

Duplantis's pole is 5.27 meters long, and his 'far hand' grips it 10-20 cm lower. So, when the bar is set at 6.30 meters, as he cleared in Tokyo, there is more than a meter of distance from the highest point of contact with the pole to the bar he is attempting to clear.

All the energy generated at the moment the vaulter releases the pole must leave him with enough upward velocity to continue ascending, high enough to clear the bar.

What do athletics experts predict? In the next few years, from 2026 to 2028, Duplantis is likely to clear between 6.31 and 6.35 meters, with a strong chance of reaching 6.40 meters by 2028 and the Los Angeles Olympics.

This is, of course, assuming no major setbacks. His pattern of increasing the record by one centimetre at a time suggests conservative progress, but a strong performance could easily see him 'fly over' 6.35 meters in ideal indoor, windless conditions.

A 6.50-meter jump is still challenging, but it is within Armand's capabilities by the end of the decade. It was similar in the early 1980s when no one believed a human could fly higher than six meters. Sergey Bubka did, and on July 13, 1985, he cleared that magical barrier.

Armand still has plenty of time. Bubka set his last record and a height of 6.14 meters in 1994, as a 31-year-old. Duplantis has not even celebrated his 26th birthday yet, and he has already surpassed the great Sergey by 16 centimeters. And yes, his best years are still ahead.