PHOTO: Bildbyrån
Armand Duplantis snubbed Daniel Ståhl on double prizes.
Now “Mondo” opens up about the competition with his national team colleague.
– What Daniel did was completely sick, he admits to Expressen.
2023 was another incomparably good year for the Swedish world star Armand Duplantis. There was a WC gold for the collection and two broken world records for “Mondo”.
Duplantis & Ståhl
One who also had a great 2023 was the discus thrower Daniel Ståhl, which accounted for a brilliant World Cup gold last summer. This week, the national team colleagues have been forced to settle with each other at two different award ceremonies.
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First the Sports Gala, where Ståhl won both the award for “Performance of the Year” and was awarded the Achievement Award. While Duplantis had to settle for the “Male Athlete of the Year” award, only the next day it was time for “Mondo” to sniff the blue-yellow friend again.
“Was absolutely sick”
The pole vault star took home the prestigious award as “Athlete of the Year” at the Athletics Gala, right in front of Daniel Ståhl, who had to settle for yet another “Performance of the Year” award. Now Armand Duplantis admits that he was not at all sure of winning the award for his national team colleague.
– No, because the performance that Daniel did at the WC was absolutely sick. Doing it on the last throw and all… It was freezing cold. There will always be tough competition from Daniel and especially this year. Therefore, it is an even greater honor, says the Swedish-American to Expressen.
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Mondo is very pleased when he gets to summarize his 2023 athletics year.
– It was a great year. At the same time, it is difficult to beat 2022, then I did everything you could do. I broke world records at the WC outdoors and indoors. But I’m not going to complain, I’m happy with 2023. I’m grateful for the year and for the prize. Now I look ahead, he says to the evening newspaper.
READ MORE: Armand Duplanti’s nice gesture – the Swedish club gets a bang in the coffers after “Mondo’s” new success: “Very grateful”
He looks ahead to a 2024 where the big highlight is of course the summer Olympics in Paris. In order to be as good as possible during the summer, Duplantis will forgo several competitions during the year, and it brings guilt within him.
– In a way, it’s definitely guilt I feel… I mean, I want to compete with. That is the problem, because it sucks and feels like crap when I sit at home and watch others compete. You just feel that you want to be there. That’s what’s fun. That’s why I’m doing it. Training is not the same thing. The competition is the fun part of the sport, he says in the interview and finally gets to give his target picture of 2024.
– That I break the world record in the Olympic final. I really want to do that.
Who is your favorite of Armand Duplantis and Daniel Ståhl? Share the article and have your say!
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