Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis thrills the world with a towering, death-defying vault (2024)

Mondo Mania took over Paris during the Olympic pole vault.

Swedish pole vault star Armand "Mondo" Duplantis put on a show on Aug. 5 on his way to setting a world record to draw a roar from a crowd that was chanting his name at Stade de France.

The 24-year-old, who one publication called "the Timothée Chalamet of the pole vault," cleared a record 6.25 meters, the equivalent of 20.5 feet, on his final vault. The mark beat his own world record of 6.24 meters set earlier this year.

Here's what to know about the American-Swedish phenom.

Duplantis is the best pole vaulter of all time — and he's only 24

As far as having the majority of the highest vaults in history, Duplantis stands alone.

His Olympic performance was the ninth time that he's broken his own pole vault world record, according to NBC Olympics.

He is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, a two-time world indoor world champion and a two-time outdoor world champion. He also is the men's first pole vaulter to win back-to-back gold medals since Team USA's Bob Richards in 1952 and 1956.

Duplantis' victory in Paris marked the 18th straight meet that he's won the pole vault, dating back to July 2023, according to The Athletic.

“It’s hard to understand honestly — if I don’t beat this moment in my career, then I’m pretty ok with that,” Duplantis told Team USA's website afterward. “I don’t think you can get much better with what just happened. It’s dang amazing. I’m a happy man.”

Duplantis has passed the rarefied height of retired Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergey Bubka, his main competition in the argument for the greatest pole vaulter of all time.

Bubka won a record six world championships in his career in the 1980s and 1990s, but only one Olympic gold medal. However, Bubka broke the outdoor pole vault world record an amazing 17 times in his career, becoming the first man to clear 6 meters. Duplantis is similarly pushing the sport's boundaries.

Duplantis is from Louisiana. Why does he compete for Sweden?

He was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, and became a star at Louisiana State University, but he has chosen to compete for Sweden because it’s his mother’s home country. She competed internationally in volleyball and the heptathlon for Sweden in the 1980s.

“I kind of handed in my American card when I decided to compete for Sweden,” Duplantis told Vogue Scandinavia in June 2024. “And I feel comfortable with that, I don’t regret it at all.”

Duplantis has been pole vaulting for so long he first began trying it in the living room of their home as a young boy, using the couch as a landing area. The family then built a pole vault setup in the backyard, they told NBC Olympics.

His father, Greg Duplantis, is a former All-SEC pole vaulter himself and Mondo’s technical coach. His mother, Helena Duplantis, is his trainer. His parents met when they were both members of LSU’s track and field team in the early 1980s.

“I think it’s amazing to be able to experience everything with my parents as coaches,” Mondo Duplantis told NBC Olympics. “I do know that we do it in such a healthy way.”

It's an all-around athletic family as his brother, Antoine Duplantis, played baseball at LSU and was drafted by the New York Mets in 2019.

Mondo rushed over to hug his parents and brother in the stands in a joyous scene after he set the world record in Paris.

He's drawn as much attention for his looks as for his skills

He had fans swooning as well as cheering on Monday, with his look drawing comparisons to Jeremy Allen White’s character Carmy from “The Bear," “Dune” star Timothée Chalamet, and Oscar winner Cillian Murphy from "Oppenheimer."

This Mondo Duplantis fella is … strangely hot. He looks like a mixture of Jeremy Allen White and Cillian Murphy. And he has a comic book villain name," one X user wrote.

“What’s most impressive about Mondo Duplantis is how he turned his family’s humble Chicago sandwich place into a fine dining restaurant,” another X user joked.

“If they ever make a Mondo Duplantis biopic, he should be played by Timothee Chalamet,” another wrote.

Duplantis' girlfriend, Desiré Inglander, is a Swedish model

Continuing the Swedish connection, Duplantis is dating Desiré Inglander, a Swedish model who was also in Paris to watch his record-setting performance. She has seen her fame grow alongside his as part of a power couple in the sports and fashion world.

He shared a celebratory kiss and a hug with Inglander after running to the stands following his final vault in Paris.

The couple first met in 2020 at a party in Stockholm, Duplantis told Vogue Scandinavia.

“Desiré brings me such a great balance in life,” he said. “It’s so nice to be able to come home and escape into a completely different world, absorb ourselves in each other and whatever we’re doing. She’s a great travel buddy.”

Duplantis has a flair for showmanship

He already had the gold medal clinched in Paris and could’ve easily been satisfied, but he decided to go for the world record.

Duplantis successfully cleared 6.10 meters to set the Olympic record, and then he had three tries to beat his own world record. He missed on the first two attempts, and then soared over the 6.25-meter bar.

Nearly an hour after he had locked up the gold medal, he gave the crowd a thrill as they witnessed history. Even the second-place finisher, Team USA’s Sam Kendricks, could be seen on the broadcast hyping up the crowd for Duplantis’ world record attempt.

“I hate that we lost him to Sweden, I wish we could get him back to American one of these days,” Kendricks joked to the Team USA website.

“The crowd was going crazy,” Duplantis said afterward, according to NBC Olympics. “It was so loud in there, it sounded like an American football game. I have a little bit of experience being in a 100,000 capacity stadium, but I was never the center of attention. Just trying to channel the energy everybody was giving me, and they were giving me a lot of it.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com