Mundo Duplantis is only 22 years old, but by the time 2022 ends, he’s already won everything there is to win.
He set only three “impossible” world records he could beat himself and he is number one in the world overall among all track and field athletes.
– But it is only the beginning, he says.
Mundo wants to write himself in the history books and so far he has only had time for a few opening chapters in an endless story.
In a long interview with Sportbladet, he talked about the past year and what would take him to a higher level and give him more medals in the future.
The fact that he has already won all the championship medals in existence and has already managed to win his second EC gold, does not affect the motivation at all.
– No, it was not my dream to take these medals only once. Just look at Serge Bubka. He’s won six outdoor golds and I want to win more than Bubka. I also want a long career. But on the day I won seven gold medals and three Olympic golds, it can be hard to motivate myself. But there is a long way to go.
How long do you intend to last?
– I usually watch Renaud Lavillenie who was my idol when I was growing up. He is 36 years old and still maintains a very high level, despite his misfortune with injuries during his career. And if he can jump at 36, I’ll be able to, too.
“Just going wrong”
You are totally superior now, but do you see any competition that could come close to your level?
– I think Chris Nielsen can still improve. He didn’t jump at his best at the end of the season, but I think that was mostly because he was mentally tired after a long season. He and Ernest John Obiena and possibly KC Lightfoot. KC got injured this year, but he’s a great talent. Perhaps they are the closest.
How far ahead do you see?
– Only now until next season. I want to live in the present, and if I start thinking about the Olympic Games in Paris in two years or so, it will be just a mistake. There are many important tournaments to win before then.
What can you still improve?
– Mostly. Only now I entered the rhythm of the approach path correctly. Prior to this season, the biggest goal was to build my running approach and see how fast I could run and at the same time control my jumps. We will continue to work on that for next season. I can be faster in approach.
Get a more solid one
Then there is the whole science of bars. How tough they are. You begin to approach Bubka and his poles, which the contestants used to call lampposts. This is how powerful they are. explain?
– Yes, it’s really simple math. The higher the rigidity of the bars, the greater the impact of the catapult. Now I got to a rod with a bend of 11.7. That was the number I used when I set the world indoor record in the World Cup final in Belgrade, where I jumped 6.16 at the Bauhaus Gala and the same pole took me over the 6.21 toilet in Eugene. Those are the three times I’ve jumped with it. I have a stiffer rod as well, but I haven’t used it yet. She will have to wait until next year.
It seems so simple when you explain it like this?
Yes, but then you have to have the strength and speed to bend the rod as well. This is basically what I’m working on now, but there are so many moments that have to come together.
Your dad Greg talked about longer poles in the future, from 5.20 to 5.30 today?
– Yes, that’s the plan. Sergey Bubka had a 5.30 pole position, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. At the same time, I don’t feel like I’ve reached the limit of how high I can hold the shaft. There seems to be some space there, too.
Who has the longest pole of all time?
– I think it was Shawnacy Barber who competed with Canada and won the WC gold in Beijing in 2015. He jumped with sticks that was 5.35. I think he even tried 5.50 times. But those bars weren’t solid and he had a completely different technology. It was a much slower jump.
“It can get a little weird.”
Many people look at you as if you were born with a wand in your hand and did nothing else. Can you be good at any other sport?
– You could of course say I was born in pole vaulting, but I was good at the other sports I tried. Especially ball sports like soccer and baseball that I’ve been playing since growing up. But I didn’t take it as seriously as I did with pole vaulting. After all, I had a pole vaulting pit on the property, so it was always the norm for me.
You are still only 22 years old, but you have reached worldwide fame as you are being recognized everywhere. How do you test it?
– In Europe, it’s like that anyway. I think it’s mostly positive. I am happy to take a selfie and sign autographs. But it can get a little weird at times. Especially when people look at me like I’m not human, like I’m somehow larger than life. I feel pretty normal myself, except I’m good at pole vaulting, then.
Now you can sum up a season in which you won it all, set three world records and where the only loss came in the penultimate competition in Brussels. Does it bother you that you got lost there?
– Yes a little bit because I want to win every competition. At the same time, you can learn a lot from the loss as well. Maybe more than when you win. I take a closer look at what went wrong and try to correct it for the future.
Yes, what will the near future look like?
– It will be winter as usual, but so far I have booked for my own indoor competition in Uppsala at the beginning of February.
And as if it wasn’t enough to actually win it all when you were 22, a record-breaking documentary about your life is about to premiere. did you see the movie?
– Yes, and it is a little different to see yourself from the outside and above all how you have matured as a person since I was seventeen or eighteen years old. But we’ve been working on the movie for five years now, and it’s good that the time has finally come. But I will not introduce any spoilers.