In case you didn’t hear about this over the weekend, a 17-year old high school junior from Lafayette High School named Armand “Mondo” Duplantis set the track and field world on fire Saturday at the New Balance National Indoor Championships with a new record 19’1″ vault.
Here’s video of that leap…
Watch @mondohoss600 vault 19-1 (5.82m) at #NBNationals.https://t.co/kxJbmxkOTN pic.twitter.com/lD1WeHuPhU
— RunnerSpace.com (@RunnerSpace_com) March 11, 2017
The 19’1″ jump essentially shattered the record books in the pole vault. It represents a new standard for national high school, age group and meet records. More than that, it’s the new Under 20 record – breaking a mark that was set all the way back in 1989 by German Raphael Marcel, who previously had the record at 19 feet, 1/4 inches.
Duplantis’ father Greg Duplantis was a champion pole vaulter as well; Mondo also broke the Duplantis family record Saturday by topping Greg’s personal best of 19 feet 1/4 inches. His mother Helena was a heptathlete and volleyball player in college. The Duplantis parents both attended LSU and were on the track and field team, and Mondo’s brother Antoine is a star outfielder on the Tiger baseball team.
It’s not unlikely that Mondo will be pole vaulting at LSU in two years. By then he might well be an Olympic-quality vaulter.
The current world record pole vault is 6.16 m (20 ft 2 1⁄2 in), held by Renaud Lavillenie of France. At only 17 years old, Duplantis has lots of time to chase that mark.
As impressive as he is as a pole vaulter, he’s just as impressive in how he carries himself. Here’s Mondo being interviewed after the record vault on Saturday…
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