How high can Mondo Duplantis go?

It has been another spectacular year for Mondo Duplantis, a man who seemingly bends pole vaulting to his will. Matt Majendie profiles athletics’ major star.

The clock had already struck 11pm Tokyo time, long after the rest of the night’s events had ended inside the National Stadium. And still an estimated 55,000 people stayed behind with all eyes on the man in the yellow vest. Twice Mondo Duplantis had knocked over the bar, and he had a last chance to become the first man to clear 6.30m, a height that seemed unthinkable before his career took off.

It was apt that the person he idolised as a wannabe athlete, Renaud Lavillenie, should be the one closest to him, standing just a few metres behind and clapping along with a boisterous crowd to get him into the rhythm on the runway. By this point, Duplantis already had a laser-like focus on what lay ahead.

The 26-year-old says he needs to be perfect to achieve each record he attains, centimetre by centimetre. He rattled the bar as he cleared it and looked down nervously, but it remained in place. A remarkable record had been achieved.

Duplantis says the celebrations are never premeditated, each one a little different. On this occasion, he bounced off the mat and into the arms of silver medallist Emmanouil ‘Manolo’ Karalis before blowing kisses to his fiancée, Desiré Inglander, in the stands.

Tokyo was in rapture to a man who has eclipsed the world record 14 times and counting and who broke it four times in 2025 alone. It seems like a lifetime ago since he suffered his last major championship defeat, all the way back in Doha six years ago. This was his 36th straight competition victory and a 16th win this year alone.

It is telling that his competitors celebrate almost as vehemently as the man himself. Australian Kurtis Marschall, who took home the bronze, said: “It was an amazing night, the fans were fantastic. Mondo is from another planet – he is doing incredible things, things many people thought were impossible. I can’t wait to see what he’s got in the future.” It is testament to his likeability as much as actual ability.

Duplantis had celebrated glory in Tokyo before at the same venue – at the Olympics of 2021 – but on that occasion it was devoid of fans in Covid times. He had relished his return, able to capture the sights and sounds of the Japanese capital and, in particular, the cuisine on offer. He had visualised what the moment would be like inside the stadium… it exceeded all expectations.

“I always wanted to come back to Tokyo because I knew it was a wonderful city,” he said. “This is better than I ever imagined. I’m lost for words. This was the biggest dream ever coming true for me. I’m so happy. To give you guys this world record is amazing. For the past two weeks, I really enjoyed being in Tokyo. I feel the only way to leave Japan was to set the world record. That was my mentality. I was feeling really good the whole day. I knew I had the record in me. I am glad it all worked out. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

The year started with a first world record of 6.27m in Clermont-Ferrand in France at the All Star Perche in February, an event created by Lavillenie. World record number two followed in June in the land of his mother’s birth, Sweden, before another in Budapest the month before the World Championships.

Still only in his mid-20s and with so much ahead of him, it begs the question what might be possible, having won every major title available and become the first man for 68 years to defend the Olympic pole vault title? A pursuit of 6.40m is the next mathematical long-term target.

Duplantis has spoken in the past of the fear that the fire inside him one day might be extinguished and yet the animated manner in which he dissected his Tokyo gold in the bowels of the stadium during a press conference deep into the night suggested that is a long way off.

He once told me that, when he competes, he knows that only a world record is enough for those watching. Everyone expects him to win – Duplantis included – as well as break his most recent mark because it’s become that commonplace. It’s taken time, he says, to get over that feeling that, “nothing’s ever good enough”.

Athletics is lucky to have him, as it was Usain Bolt before him. On the Bolt comparisons, he is dismissive. “I can only be who I can be,” he once said. “I can’t be Usain Bolt, we’re different people and do different events so it’s hard to compare us. But what I want to be is the best pole vaulter that ever lived.”

That’s long been guaranteed and, like Bolt, Duplantis is the ultimate showman. He never thought he was until Covid happened and he was consigned to compete back in his parents’ old backyard in Lafayette, Louisiana, with a six-step run-up compared to the 20-stepper he has grown accustomed to.

It was there where he first used poles so thin so that he could bend them as a lightweight seven-year-old and he dreamed of being Lavillenie, while avoiding the red brick wall that stood to the left of the landing mat. And it was there, in Covid times, that he realised how much he had fed on and missed the roar of the crowd.

His is a dominance – he has not lost since June 2023 – which is matched only by very few of the all-time greats. With him, there are echoes of Tiger Woods in his pomp or Michael Jordan or Michael Phelps.

It was apt that another sporting great, Kelly Slater, an 11-time surfing world champion, should be among the first to reply when Duplantis posted a slow-motion video of his 6.30m clearance on Instagram. Slater wrote simply: “Wow. That’s wild! Slo-mo tells a story. Nice work.”

Duplantis may not get the recognition of the superstars of other sports. Is that a fault of athletics or that the pole vault lacks that same universal awe and appeal as the 100m? But his status within his own sport is clear. After all, it was he who was wheeled out alongside Bolt to launch the new-for-2026 World Ultimate Championships in Tokyo.

The American-born Swede may not have attained the fame or fortune of the likes of Woods or Jordan, and yet his bank balance is beginning to feel the positive effects. His World Championships gold, combined with the world record, pocketed him $170,000 in Tokyo and a bonus from sponsors Puma – not bad for a night’s work.

And he’s clearly popular. He has 1.6 million followers on Instagram, and rising. Plus, there’s appeal outside of the sport, too. He has released his own music – his first single, Bop, reached 31 in the Swedish music charts on its release – and then there’s the small matter of his impending marriage next year.

As an athlete, what is it that makes him so good? In the simplest terms, he is electrically quick on the runway. Last year he ran the 100m in 10.37 in a showdown with Karsten Warholm. At take-off, his speed of 10.3m per second is about a metre better than a lot of his rivals. Unlike his peers, he also places his pole just before the box, enabling it to slide into place and just look at his take-off technique and the manner in which he is vertical at the point the bar straightens. Again, it is contrasting to those he competes against week in, week out.

There is also the innovation. Puma provides him with a shoe called the Claw, which he only uses in attempting records and gives him an extra speed. If he wears them regularly, he often catches himself on them and draws blood. As he puts it, “When they come out, you know it’s business time.”

In the Tokyo final, shod with the Claw, he was 30cm clear of his closest rival. In contrast, 25cm separated second to ninth place. For all of Karoulis’ progress in particular, that gap looks unlikely to be bridged any time soon. Duplantis has Sergey Bubka’s tally of 17 world records in his sights and the motivation looks undiminished. More than five-and-a-half years since his first world record, one wonders how many more will follow and how high can he go?