Mondo Duplantis promises, delivers and engages | Sports| The USA Print

Mondo Duplantis, a Swedish athlete, born and raised in the United States, with a first name (Armand) and a last name of French origin, as is common in the bayous of the Mississippi Delta, broke the pole vault world record over the weekend, feat for anyone and success for him, who never ceases to improve a brand that others find more unthinkable than unattainable.

Duplantis, 23, jumped 6.22 meters in Clermont Ferrand, the city where his teacher resides, the Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie, the man who made pole vaulting a chic specialty, both for his quality as an athlete and for his influence in generating a attractive and supportive climate in the jumpers guild, familiar atmosphere that the fans appreciate and enjoy.

Although the media attention that the athletes arouse has decreased considerably, the record has not gone unnoticed. Duplantis is not a soccer or NBA star, but his name transcends the fringes of athletics. Since he was 15 years old, his trajectory has been irresistible. He has won World Cups and Olympic Games, he has broken records in all categories and, best of all, he has achieved them several times in the most prestigious competitions, when the pressure tightens the knot and reveals the true character of the athletes. .

Much of the visibility of Duplantis corresponds to the degree of expectations it arouses and its effectiveness in meeting them. It’s a quality that distinguishes superstars from champions, even great champions. People, basketball fans or not, flocked to Michael Jordan games because any night could be a magical moment. Better not miss it. With Messi, or with Michael Phelps at Olympic events, the same thing has happened. Like them, every time Mondo Duplantis enters the track, he anticipates something extraordinary, the chance that only he offers to witness something unique.

This promising quality is within the reach of very few athletes. It is not the same to break records or win prestigious competitions that capture the imagination of the audience, a very marked border in athletics, where some champions are highly appreciated among fans, but are hardly known outside its limits. At this point in his career, Mondo Duplantis has filled his record to the brim, but his eagerness does not wane. Propose the idea of ​​a man in full mission.

There’s the fame and the money—for every inch he scrapes off the world record, the compensation is just as substantial in money as it is in advertising and endorsements—but it’s hard to explain Duplantis from this perspective alone. An obsession runs through his trajectory since he was a child. The son of a good American pole vaulter, his feats are collected from early childhood. He was ahead of his time in all categories, with unthinkable marks. Nothing, neither adolescence, nor his brief college stage at Louisiana State University, nor professionalism, has stopped him.

Nor is it upset by the considerable distance it maintains with its competitors. When the best pole vaulters in the world face the six meters as an almost insurmountable challenge, Duplantis crosses that border as if it did not exist. He moves 10, 15 or 20 centimeters above the rest, year after year, with a latent danger of competitive stagnation. It has not occurred.

Without one of those overwhelming physiques that abound in the pole vault, Duplantis (1.81 meters, 80 kilos) dominates his specialty with the voracious appetite of a child. He maintains a youthful energy and ambition, the kind of commitment that doesn’t go unnoticed by people. Mondo enjoys the pole and the audience enjoys him. It would be great if athletics could take advantage of such a beneficial relationship.

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