Mondo Duplantis to face his idol
Winning an Olympic gold medal and setting a new world record is quite a feat and an experience that may be hard to top. Competing against your teen idol, however, does make the list of fantastic things that can happen in an athlete’s career. The special moment had not been possible in Paris, but it will come in Zurich: Mondo Duplantis will compete against a living pole vault legend.
«Mondo can jump 6.23m.» Renaud Lavillenie’s prediction came just after the 20-year-old Swedish pole vault wunderkind had broken the French star’s world record by clearing 6.16m four years ago. Since then, Duplantis has kept on improving his personal best by eight centimetres and has arrived at – 6.25m. In his progress, he has also steadily increased the gap to his opponents’ results. He is now a two-time Olympic and world champion, and a three-time European and Wanda Diamond League champion. Lavillenie is ahead of him only when it comes to the number of Diamond League final wins. He was able to triumph as many as seven times.
France’s Olympic champion of 2012 would have loved to ennoble his career in front of his home crowd in Paris. Unfortunately, however, he had missed a large part of the qualification period due to a persistent injury. Now, “Air Lavillenie” – whose poster once adorned the wall of Duplantis’ room – returns to the big stage. The last win of the living pole vault legend in Zurich dates back to 2016.
Nine world records and a prestigious duel
Mondo Duplantis’ career has kept moving upwards in recent years. The Swedish superstar managed to improve his own world record mark as many as nine times (four times on the occasion of international championships). No athlete cleared the magic 6m mark more often than him. This year, Mondo will fulfil a long-awaited wish: He will give the 100m a try and challenge 400m h world record holder Karsten Warholm in a prestigious duel (Wednesday, 4 September).
The five top athletes of 2024 will fly high at Letzigrund Stadium
And his own event, too, tough opponents are getting ready to challenge him: This year’s top athletes will all compete at Letzigrund Stadium. The illustrious list includes Olympic silver medallists Christopher Nilsen (USA, 2021) and Sam Kendricks (USA, 2024), as well as Asian champion Ernest John Obiena (PHI), and Lavillenie’s fellow countryman Thibaut Collet). Together with Mondo, they are the world’s five best pole vaulters this season.
“The pole vault competition at Weltklasse Zürich will be spectacular as always and particularly exciting, this year. The members of an extraordinary line-up will treat the audience to a fabulous airshow,” said Co-Meeting Director Andreas Hediger.
