PARIS, France (NEXSTAR) — "I don't think there's really words to explain it," said two-time Olympic gold medalist pole vaulter Armand “Mondo” Duplantis in an interview with WOOD TV's Jack Doles. Duplantis reflected on his latest victory in Paris and his new world record, sharing his thoughts on the remarkable achievement.
"I don't really think it's fully sunken in yet either. I mean, I haven't even really slept yet. I really even haven't had the time to let everything be absorbed," he said. Despite his exhaustion, he celebrated the moment with his loved ones and friends from Lafayette, some of whom hadn't seen him jump since high school. "We celebrated really hard last night."
The Swedish-American athlete from Louisiana who is competing for Sweden, took Gold on Monday, finishing with a height of 6.25 meters — breaking a world record that Duplantis himself had previously set eight times during his career. Duplantis earned Gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Reflecting on the difference between Tokyo and Paris, Duplantis talked about the contrast. Tokyo, held without spectators due to COVID-19 restrictions, felt like "a super stressful and important training session," he noted. "And then this was like, I felt like I was competing at Tiger Stadium almost. It was ridiculous. 80,000 people, everybody's only focused on me and chanting my name and stuff like that. It's just crazy, hard to comprehend really," he said.
