© Copyright – 2024 – Athletics Illustrated

Swedish pole vault great, Armand “Mondo” Duplantis, was named the 2024 BBC World Sport Star of the Year.

The 25-year-old defended his Olympic gold medal during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. In the process, he improved upon his own world record of 6.25 metres. The last time someone took consecutive golds in the event was when American Bob Richards achieved do so in 1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne editions.

“I am so honoured to win the World Sports Personality of the Year award,” Duplantis told BBC One.

“I am so sorry I couldn’t be there. I am back here in the States and training for the upcoming season.

“This award really means a lot to me.”

Duplantis is the greatest pole vaulter in history. After breaking the Olympic and World records in Paris in August, he went on to improve his own world record vault to 6.26m.

Duplantis has set all of the most recent 10 world records.

He earned back-to-back world championship wins in Budapest and Eugene in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Prior to that he took silver during the 2019 Doha World Athletics Championships at the age of 19. His 100m sprint is surprisingly good at 10.37 seconds run in 2024.

Two Americans including gymnast Simone Biles and basketball player Caitlin Clark, were shortlisted. Also in consideration were Swiss wheelchair racer Catherine Debrunner, Dutch runner Sifan Hassan and French swimmer Leon Marchand.

His American father, Greg Duplantis, is a former pole vaulter with a personal best of 5.80m. His Swedish mother, Helena (née Hedlund), is a former heptathlete and volleyball player. Duplantis grew up in Louisiana with competitive siblings, who also fared well in sports including NCAA-level baseball, and pole vault among others.

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