Inside the life of pole vault champ Mondo Duplantis when he’s not yeeting himself in the air

He’s a nine time world record holder

4 months ago

Armand Duplantis, better known as “Mondo”, had the whole of the world watching him take gold and break his own world record last night in the men’s pole vault event. Mondo soared into the air to succeed at 6.25 metres and break yet another record – pretty cool, but I’m sure he’ll treasure his claim to all age group records from seven to 12 just as much. Beyond his athletic success, viewers were just as fixated on the passionate moment shared between Mondo and his girlfriend and Swedish model, Desire Inglander.

Here’s a look inside the incredibly successful life of Mondo Duplantis.

Mondo is American and is 24 years old

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A post shared by Mondo Duplantis (@mondo_duplantis)

Mondo was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, to an American father and a Swedish mother. His Swedish mother helped him to reconnect with his culture and encouraged him to learn the language to a high level of proficiency, meaning that he has recently been confident in speaking in Swedish in interviews. He is 24 years old and moved over to his mother’s homeland to train in the summer months after university.

He’s broken the world record nine times

The life of Mondo Duplantis is legendary, with the athlete breaking the world record with a pole vault of 6.17 metres in February 2020, before going onto beat his record exactly one week later at one centimetre higher. The Swede has steadily upped his progress, with all of his successful world record attempts coming at a height of just one centimetre higher than the last. And with a hefty paycheque for each broken record, he’s clearly planned his performances out well.

Mondo is dating Swedish model, Desire Inglander

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A post shared by Mondo Duplantis (@mondo_duplantis)

Mondo and Desire met at a midsummer party in Sweden in 2020, but apparently Desire was not originally that keen on the pole vaulting star.

Mondo said about their meeting: “So, at the party I was just trying to talk to Desire, like ‘Hey, what’s up, I’m Mondo…’ but she didn’t want anything to do with it or me. She just wanted to dance”.

The couple later exchanged Snapchats (so Gen-Z) and went on a date a few months later and have celebrated many birthdays, anniversaries and gold medals together since.

Both of his parents were also athletes

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A post shared by Mondo Duplantis (@mondo_duplantis)

Mondo’s father, Greg Duplantis was also a pole vaulter who set a personal best of 5.80 metres. Greg works as a pole vaulting coach nowadays and has helped Mondo to become the exceptional athlete he is. Mondo’s mother, Helena Duplantis, is part of something of a sporting dynasty. Her father, Lars-Ake Hedlund, was a former national pole vaulter who competed until the age of 80. Helena competed internationally for Sweden in the heptathlon – those genetics are ludicrously good.

He has a really unusual diet for an athlete

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A post shared by Mondo Duplantis (@mondo_duplantis)

Mondo does not follow the conventionally healthy diet of an athlete, particularly when it comes to vegetables. His mother, Helena, told the Olympics: “Mondo has never really enjoyed vegetables. He would just move them to the side of the plate. We’re taking it one vegetable at a time”.

Mondo also admitted to eating too much fried chicken throughout college, saying: “What did you expect, I’m from Louisiana!”

This is very reassuring for those of us who are lacking in dietary discipline and are thinking about which Olympic sport we would be able to do if we had trained from the age of three – unfortunately, I don’t possess the athletic ability but it is some food for thought for the rest of you.

Mondo has a pretty bizarre pre-competition playlist

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A post shared by Mondo Duplantis (@mondo_duplantis)

A lot of athletes are known to listen to fast-paced, adrenaline building music in the build up to an important competition. Mondo has really built on this, telling Vogue Scandinavia that he listens to a playlist that he describes as “vulgar” music “to get that crazy mindset going”.

He even added songs to it as recently as June 4th, giving himself plenty of time to adopt the chaotic and driven mindset he clearly prides himself on.

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