Pole Vault | Around the World in 6.25m

(Saint-Denis) Who will succeed Usain Bolt? The question arose after the last race of the greatest sprinter of all time in Rio in 2016.

His real name is Armand Duplantis, but everyone calls him Mondo, ever since his godfather nicknamed him that when he was a child. Born and raised in Louisiana by athlete parents, he chose to represent Sweden, his mother’s country, for his pole vaulting career.

That’s good, the yellow and blue of the Scandinavian kingdom suit him like a glove.

Presented to the crowd of 70,000 spectators a little after 7 p.m. on Monday, Mondo Duplantis was the last to leave the immense Stade de France stadium, almost four hours later, accompanied by an aura comparable to that of the Jamaican Lightning.

Already crowned Olympic pole vault champion for a second time, Mondo Duplantis first had fun dispossessing the Brazilian Thiago Braz (6.03 m) of his Olympic record set in Rio. Seeing the ease with which he wrapped himself around the bar set at 6.10 m, everyone thought he would try the trick at 6.25 m, one centimeter better than his own world record that he had improved eight times.

After two failed attempts, the 24-year-old pole vaulter weighed his options with his coach, taking off his shoes and cracking his back with a roller to recharge his batteries.

About 10 minutes later, he put on his spikes and rested his pole on his shoulder, waiting for the crowd to clap in unison, encouraged by American silver medalist Sam Hendricks (5.95m). He had imagined this moment “a million times” in his backyard in Lafayette, where his pole-vaulting father had installed a track for him.

Then he left.

After a phenomenal acceleration, he planted the long rod in the buffer before flying off into eternity.

The crowd held its breath for a split second as the confident Swede pointed his toes skyward and gave himself a final push with his arms. As he went over the bar, it didn’t budge. The stadium roared before the alien even landed on the cushion.

Bouncing right back to his feet, Mondo Duplantis let out a few primal screams, rushing to the front row of the stands to embrace his sweetheart Desiré. The party was only just beginning when Dancing Queen ABBA’s song rang out.

“Tab… it’s fun!”

It took Mondo Duplantis a good two hours to arrive in front of the journalists from the written press, many of whom were sitting against walls, typing furiously on their computers to meet deadlines all over the world.

With his slightly curly brown hair and the three crowns flag around his shoulders, he looked like a prince. He had just received congratulations from King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. A colleague showed him a photo of the sovereign reacting to the world record.

“Fan vad kul!” said the hero of the evening, who speaks excellent Swedish and spends half his life in Stockholm. According to a journalist’s translation, he had just said: “Tab… it’s fun!”

Mondo Duplantis struggled to grasp the surreal moment he had just experienced: “Honestly, it’s hard to understand,” he breathed. “If I can’t beat this moment in my career, that’s fine with me. It can’t really be better than what just happened. It’s really incredible.”

The key for him was to channel the shouts and encouragement that were exclusively intended for him at the end of the evening when only the pole vault was still in progress.

“The crowd was going crazy, and the energy was just incredible. I was just trying to control the energy rather than let it control me. I had already won and broken the Olympic record. I’m an Olympic champion for the second time. I really had nothing to lose. And everything to gain.”

After having “practically lived in a cellar for the past three months”, Mondo Duplantis promised himself to “probably party quite hard” with his family and friends, an evening that will include a karaoke session despite his increasingly hoarse voice. Who knows, maybe he will run into Usain Bolt, who was conspicuously absent from the Parisian party.