We are seated in a chic Parisian hotel, Mondo Duplantis and I, yet his thoughts are far from here. They are on the runway, then soaring high into the sky. Bending, arching, and twisting over another seemingly insurmountable peak, six meters high and beyond. At the exact moment he knows he has shattered the world record once more.

So, what do those fleeting milliseconds feel like? “Each one brings a unique emotion,” he responds. “But in a way, they are all the same. It’s a kind of hysteria.” Duplantis pauses, then returns to the moment where elevation meets ecstasy and then gravity. “You are utterly overwhelmed inside, because it doesn’t seem real,” he says. “As I descend, I can see the bar will remain in place. But it almost feels surreal.“You enter this almost euphoric state, the dopamine rush or whatever it is, and suddenly you’re on another planet. It almost feels entirely out of this world.” Anyone who has witnessed Duplantis vault this year has experienced a similarly ethereal sensation. His record? Fifteen competitions, 15 victories. Gold medals in the world indoor championships, European championships, and the Olympic Games. And, remarkably, three more world records.

Every athlete strives for perfection. But in 2024, the Swede attained it. The second world record was undoubtedly his Mona Lisa. It occurred on his final jump during a scorching evening at the Games in Paris. By then, track events were over for the night, leaving just Duplantis, the bar set at 6.25m, and 77,000 ecstatic fans at the Stade de France creating a wall of sound that could rival anything by Phil Spector. Duplantis had visualized this moment a thousand times, from the moment he began pole vaulting in his backyard as a young child (it helps when your dad is a retired elite vaulter and your mum a former heptathlete). And in a burst of glorious Technicolor, it all came true.

We live in a world where track and field has been pushed to the margins, but on that wild night, the daredevil burst into the mainstream. After Paris, Duplantis gained a million followers on Instagram. He soon made more headlines by defeating the 400m hurdles record holder, Karsten Warholm, in a highly anticipated 100m exhibition race. His time of 10.37sec on a chilly night was also quite impressive. For good measure, he was recently named European athlete of the year and, at a glamorous ceremony in Monaco on Sunday, World Athletics’ field athlete of the year. Forget field, he’d be my athlete of the year, period.

The intriguing question is what comes next. Duplantis has it all: talent, a Gen Z personality (his dad describes him as “a bit reckless” and recalls him jumping off roofs on his skateboard), and even a fiancée who is a successful model and influencer. But everything changes in an Olympic year. For instance, when Michael Johnson launches his $12m (£9.4m) Grand Slam Track league next year, it won’t include field events. “I think I can save track,” Johnson says. “I don’t think I can save track and field.” Yet something else Duplantis told me about the pole vault serves as a compelling counterpoint. “I think it is the most technical, the most beautiful, and the most exotic event,” he said. “There’s a very beautiful complexity to it.” I couldn’t agree more. The fact that he can leap over 6.26m, nearly the height of one and a half London double-decker buses stacked on top of each other, with just a long pole and a metal box is astonishing. I just wish TV could capture the white-knuckle ride up close.

I say this with firsthand experience. At the 2016 world indoor championships, the pole vault was held in front of 7,000 people in a gym, where some of us were fortunate enough to be right next to the action. It was like watching TV in 4K for the first time. Perhaps it’s time for TV directors to step up their game. One idea: use drones with HD cameras to better capture the speed, the athleticism, even the trash talk. Everything that makes the sport great.

Meanwhile, what Duplantis shared about his early years could also be pinned on the wall of every pushy parent. For while he broke his first world record at seven, clearing 2.33m, he was never forced to specialize early. “My parents did build the whole setup in the backyard, so we were forced to try it at least,” he told me. “But we did a lot of sports until I was about 15. I played baseball just as much as pole vault. Soccer, too. But I always had a natural drive. I wanted to be the best and I loved the pole vault. My middle brother Antoine never liked it so he just played baseball. And my parents were like: ‘That’s fine.’” Yet as the greatest year of his career draws to a close, Duplantis remains resolute in pushing into new frontiers, including one day clearing 6.30m. “As the years go on, it gets harder. You’re not going to have these huge personal bests and breakthroughs that you had when you were younger. But, in some ways, it gets more motivating. Trying to improve. Staying on the right path. And ultimately it’s still the same. It’s always a competition within yourself. Me against the bar, just as it was when I was younger.” And if history teaches us anything, betting against Duplantis rarely pays off.

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