Mondo Duplantis won his second straight pole vault Olympic gold medal last year at the Paris Games in part of what he described as a “life-changing” year. While at the Laureus World Sports Awards where he was named Sportsman of the Year, the 25-year-old sat down with CNN World Sport’s Amanda Davies.

Mondo Duplantis, Swedish pole vaulter, recently reflected on a transformative year at the Laureus World Sports Awards, where he was recognized as Sportsman of the Year. Duplantis described the past year, during which he won his second consecutive Olympic gold medal in pole vaulting at the Paris Games, as a "super life-changing" experience. Duplantis, 25, emphasized the rarity of such opportunities in track and field, noting his significant achievement of breaking the world record at the Olympics, which he regards as a once-in-a-lifetime dream come true, though he still aspires to surpass his own record.

Despite the numerous accolades and achievements, Duplantis revealed a reluctance to dwell on his successes, expressing a belief that the trophies and awards will hold greater significance for him in years to come, particularly when he looks back with his future family. He acknowledged that perfection in sports is elusive but felt he accomplished his goals last year. Looking ahead, Duplantis remains optimistic about further breaking records, with aspirations to achieve a six-metre 30 jump in future competitions.

Duplantis discussed his training methods, clarifying that while he might raise the bar by only one centimetre at a time, he jumps lower in practice than during competitions. This approach relies heavily on the adrenaline and energy of the competitive environment, which he finds crucial for reaching new heights. Duplantis is hopeful about the upcoming world championships and the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, projecting confidence in achieving more groundbreaking performances on these grand stages. He praised the Paris Olympics for setting a high standard and anticipates that the Los Angeles Olympics will rise to meet and exceed this benchmark.



Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis reflects on ‘life-changing’ year

A whole lot has happened in your life since the morning after the night before when we last spoke in Paris. How do you reflect on it? It was like a super life-changing event for me. And it's one of these things to where you have such few opportunities as a track and field athlete, as far as you don't know how many Olympics you're going to be able to compete in. And so you really have to try your best to take advantage of the opportunities when you get them, I guess. And so I know that what I was able to do is really special, once in a lifetime, maybe. And just like a crazy dream, it doesn't even really feel real, I guess, in some ways. But then also, at the same time, it's like, as a human, you adapt to things and you just want more and more and more. I was going to say, do you really think once in a lifetime? The next Games isn't that far away. I kind of just say it, you know what I mean? Because it just sounds right. And it sounds like what you should say, because I know that it is a really special thing. And that's like my biggest dream ever was to break the world record at the Olympics. And I was able to do that. So just to appreciate that moment for what it was, I guess. But I do still have that confidence that going into L.A., I'm going to be in even better shape. I can even jump higher. I'm going to do something just like that. Make a big splash. Can maybe break a world record again, something like that. So yeah, in some ways, I still kind of think that I'll do it again. Are you comfortable with the accolades? I mean, not only the records and the trophies and the medals you won last year, but you did win a lot of the awards as well. Yes and no, in a way. I feel like I don't really think about it all that much, honestly. I'm going to probably be able to appreciate more later in life. I think that when I'm past my time, have my place, have my kids, I'll be able to show them some really cool trophies and whatnot. Then I think that's when it's really going to be able to be more special, I think. Because I think now you're so caught up in other things and you always look forward and you just want to keep doing more and more that you kind of, sometimes you miss it a little bit. I read a couple of descriptions of your performances last year, your year as a whole, as perfection. With what you won, the records you broke. I mean, did it feel like that to you? Perfect in the sense of I did everything that I wanted to do. You know, there's no such thing really as perfect in sports. But I did all the things that I wanted and pretty much everything that I could, I guess, last year. So kind of perfect, depends on how you describe it, yeah. There's talk of six metres 30. Is that going to happen? It will, it will. In the near future. That's the hope, that's the plan. The videos of your last world record, you cleared the bar by, I don't know how many centimetres, but it looked a lot. A couple, yeah. What are you doing that we're not seeing? You mean like behind the scenes? Yeah, what do you know you can do? No. You know, of course, there's a little bit of truth to the whole thing, the one centimetre thing. That's, I'm not, I would like, I wouldn't just lie to you in that way. And of course, there is, there is like a reason why I do what I do as far as raising it one centimetre at a time. But I do not jump higher in practice than I do in training, like not even close. I jump like 15 centimetres lower, almost 10 centimetres lower at the best in training than I do. So whenever I am jumping something like a world record, or like a new height in a competition, it is my first time jumping these heights. Usually first time on these poles, first time with this type of speed and whatnot. So I really do thrive and need that adrenaline and energy from the competition setting to be able to jump these type of heights. So are you saving the big one for the upcoming world championships or are we looking ahead to LA and 28? Uh, maybe a little bit of both. Yeah, if I can break the world record at Tokyo in the world championships, if I can do it in LA, then that's, that's the best timing to do it. That's when it's going to be the most impactful and that's when it's going to make the biggest splash for sure. What are you looking forward to? What should we expect from an Olympic Games in Los Angeles? I think it's going to be super lit and I think it's going to be very impactful. I think Paris set the bar and standard really high because I think it was a really, really amazing Olympics. Just the whole event as a whole was just, was really perfect. And so hopefully LA can get up to that standard and then hopefully push it even more.

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