Mondo Duplantis, a unique jumper

Son and grandson of pole vaulters, since he was five years old, he has followed a very peculiar method of his father and coach Greg, supported in physical training by his mother Helena.

If 15 years ago Usain Bolt was the great star and the main attraction of world athletics, now the Swedish pole vaulter Armand “Mondo” Duplantis is the best marketing campaign that the king of sports has. His recent record at the Tokyo World Cup (6.30 m) increases his legend.

Science tries to explain the reason for Duplantis' records. Energy, biomechanics, technique, physics, mathematics… everything comes together in a pole vault. And, also, psychology, the mind. But in a record jump by Duplantis, in an exceptional way.

Because Swedish is unique, with very peculiar characteristics. The son and grandson of pole vaulters, since he was five years old, he has followed a very peculiar method of his father and coach Greg, supported in physical training by his mother Helena. He has not known any other athletics school.

There are many keys that converge in a Duplantis record. His approach stroke at the recent record of 6.30 m is 20 steps, with a high frequency of just over 4.3 p/s, a little over 2.20 m average step length and contact times of less than 100 ms. Its entry speed is very high, up to 10.20 m/s (more than 36 km/h), which no one can achieve. In this he has improved a lot in recent years, because in his first international competitions he was by no means the fastest. Let us remember that in 2024, in an exhibition against Warlhom, he ran the 100 m in 10.37 s. Although what is really difficult is running that fast while efficiently carrying a pole. For Linthorne and Weetman (2012), an increase of 1 m/s in running can mean an improvement of up to 54 cm in jumping.

Furthermore, Duplantis, who is neither the tallest nor the most muscular of the pole vaulters, uses poles and grips typical of heavier and taller athletes. He measures 1.81 m and weighs 79 kg, when due to the hardness, length and grip point of the pole he would look like someone 1.95 m and 89 kg.. For his best jumps he uses a very hard 5.20 m pole and a very high grip, at 5.10 m – 5.15 m.

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Another unique feature of Duplantis is that it drags the pole along the ground in the last meter before coming into contact with the box. and perform the kick with the left foot. And another is that, in the inversion or extension, it rotates and rises for quite a while, and takes advantage of the bending of the pole until the end.

And then there is the mental component. He has no fear. Psychologically it is exceptional. At the age of eight he already jumped 2.90 m. He is an obsessive competitor. He always wants to improve, he never hesitates, he doesn't abandon training until he has achieved the goal of the day.

The Duplantis limit is unknown. His father places him at 6.40 m. Perhaps, with an evolution of the poles towards something longer, that costs less to bend and recover very well, Duplantis can fly up to that point or further. He will not break 35 world records like Sergei Bubka, but he will most likely surpass Yelena Isinbayeva's 17.