PHOTO: Bildbyrån
He is by far the best pole vaulter in the world.
Now Armand Duplantis can start a completely new venture.
“Mondo” has agreed to compete in another athletics discipline.
2024 was another matchless year for the Swedish world star Armand Duplantis. He won WC gold indoors, EC gold outdoors, Olympic gold and broke triple world records during the year.
Duplanti’s successful year
The big moment was of course the performance at the pole vault final during the Summer Olympics in Paris when “Mondo” had the packed Stade de France boiling. First he won Olympic gold and a few minutes later he also managed a new world record with 6.25 metres.
But the great success does not end there, because in the autumn Duplantis also competed in a super duel against the Norwegian superstar Karsten Warholm of 100 meters in Zurich, Switzerland. Against all odds, Mondo also managed to win that competition and surprised everyone with the incredible time of 10.37.
Compete in new sports
That achievement really gave the 25-year-old more flavor, who also crowned the year by winning the Bragdguldet. Now Armand Duplantis has agreed to start competing in a completely different athletics branch than pole vaulting.
READ MORE: Armand Duplantis should not win the Gold of Achievement for 2024
Mondo confirms to Radiosporten that he wants to compete for a Swedish relay team in the Finnkampen.
– I want to be on the relay team and I think we would have a great chance of breaking the Swedish record. I really want to do it and it would be a wonderful thing, says Duplantis to the radio channel.
Mondo’s goal
The big goal – and also the carrot – for the athletics giant is to break a new Swedish record in the 4×100 meters. On the sprint side, Armand is welcomed with open arms.
– In a Finnkamp, with his name, that alone would make the relay very interesting, says Torbjörn Erikssonone of the athletics association’s responsible sprint coaches, in a statement.
– I know that Kajsa Bergqvist (the national team captain) has talked loosely about it, but we haven’t made any contact with Armand, we haven’t.
READ MORE: Armand Duplantis completely ignores the championship: “So it looks”
But for this year’s Finnkampen it will probably not be relevant as the Athletics World Championships are arranged late in September 2025, so close to the Swedish-Finnish gala. Therefore, most things suggest that we will only see Duplantis run the relay for Sweden in 2026.
– He also has to learn to shift, so that it doesn’t come to a complete stop in the shift, but we have to practice that a little bit. To pass the Swedish record, you have to have a number of runners who run at 10.20, and Mondo has that capacity in him, says sprint coach Torbjörn Eriksson to the radio channel.
What sport would you like to see Armand Duplantis compete in? Share the article and have your say!
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