Armand Duplantis competes in Brussels.
Then he confesses an unexpected anger.
– I won’t lie about it, he says.
Armand Duplantis is one of athletics’ absolute biggest and hottest athletes. In fact, few practitioners, regardless of discipline, are as superior as Mondo is. This season there has only been a single competition where he has not won, and then he also had problems with a cramping thigh, during the competition in Monaco.
The only loss
Last year too, Duplantis was incredibly close to a perfect season, with wins in every single race. Mondo won EC gold in Munich, broke a world record during the WC in Eugene – but on one occasion it went wrong. It was during the penultimate competition of the Diamond League season, in Brussels, that an unexpected loss came.
Mondo only managed to jump 5.81, and thus it was the only time in the whole of last year that Mondo did not win a competition. Now he’s back in Brussels, for this year’s edition of the Diamond League competition, and if anyone thinks Mondo has forgotten last year’s defeat, think again. Duplanti’s winning streak is huge, and his motivation is always sky high.
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Revealing the anger
Ahead of this year’s edition of the competition, he admits that the loss last year is still in his head, and that it annoys him.
– Somewhere in my head, it’s there, I’m not going to lie about it. Let’s just say this: This year I have something to prove, says Mondo according to international media.
Armand Duplantis is coming off a summer where he won WC gold, but still no new world record, which was a stated goal for the star. It’s been close, though, and now Duplantis thinks it might be time.
– I know I have it in me. I just have to make the right jump at the right time. I feel good. I have two competitions left and I will do everything I can, he says.
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