SAINT-DENIS, France — Sweden’s Armand Duplantis, pole in hand, stood on the runway staring down a bar higher than anyone’s ever cleared. Something special was brewing. It was tangible inside Stade de France.

The competition portion of men’s pole vault was over. Duplantis — the Lafayette, La., native and LSU product who competes for his mother’s home nation — secured the gold medal in four jumps. Clearing 6.0 meters was enough to win the gold medal at these Paris Olympics.

He is now the first back-to-back Olympic champion in men’s pole vault since American Bob Richards, who won in the 1952 Helsinki Games and the 1956 Melbourne Games. Duplantis and Richards are the only men’s pole vaulters with two Olympic golds in the event.

But Duplantis still had two more jumps. He used the fifth to break the Olympic record at 6.10 meters. The other races and throws were done and Duplantis still had one jump left. An encore remained.

One of the few one-name stars at these Olympics, Mondo, was going for the world record. He owns the last eight. The bar was set to 6.25 meters. The fervent crowd engaged for the theater of an all-time great.

“MON-DO! Clap. Clap. MON-DO! Clap. Clap.”

Save for the bit of a fight from American Sam Kendricks, this was the only uncertainty about Duplantis’ night.

Mondo is inevitable. He’s won 30 of his last 31 rounds of pole vault. His last defeat came in June 2023 at a Diamond League event in Monaco, when he was hampered by a hamstring injury and finished fourth. Whether a qualifying round or a final with stakes, Duplantis just doesn’t lose.

“He’s got God’s hands on his back,” Kendricks said. “He’s the fastest pole vaulter out there.”

He went charging down the runway. But he missed the first of three attempts. He was too far back when he swung up and his shin hit the bar.

As he does following jumps, he went to talk to his father and coach, former American pole vaulter Greg Duplantis. But his mother, Helena Duplantis, the former Swedish heptathlete, had tips for him, too.

“She can always sneak in there and give sneaky great advice, especially with the run part,” he said. “Just trying to stay tall but still keep all the momentum going forward.”

Following the gold medal ceremony for the 100 meters featuring Noah Lyles, Duplantis was back on the runway, attempting 6.25 for a second time. The crowd was at it again.

“MON-DO! Clap. Clap. MON-DO! Clap. Clap.”

This time, he led the crowd in a progressive clap, the one that starts slow and builds. A chorus of 69,000 people clapping in unison. For the second night in a raw, chills whisked through Stade de France.

Then as he took off, an escalating roar followed him down the runway. Duplantis pointed his pole, planted it in the box, swing his feet towards the sky. But the same thing happened. He didn’t get up and over without making contact with the bar.

He was down to his third and final attempt to break the record.

Duplantis said he didn’t hit the spot he needed to for optimal energy transfer. It would have to be a perfect jump, executed flawlessly. Pole vaulting is as much science as art, as much precision as feel. He made a technical adjustment, moving the uprights a little closer.

Kendricks wasn’t saying Mondo got that from him. But he was saying part of Mondo’s refinement was from coming up in the sport behind Kendricks and being a sponge. It’s created a pole vaulter who has the science and art down, the precision and feel.

“Once upon a time, Mondo did need some help,” Kendricks said. “He was the little cricket on the field of play. I remember him in 2017. He was a sprite like no other. Wide-eyed. New uniform. He knew more about me and my jumps than I knew about myself. He’s been the biggest pole vault fan that’s why knowing him is so infectious. I hate that we lost him to Sweden. I wish we can get him back to America one of these days.”

He was the only one of America’s three world-ranked pole vaulters to make it to the Olympic final. He missed out on the Tokyo Games because of the COVID pandemic and spent the entire time sequestered in a hotel. He has been vocal about his disdain for the Olympics after his last experience, even at one point suggesting he might not come to Paris even if he qualified.

Good thing for him he did. Kendricks, who turns 32 in September, took silver to go with his bronze from Rio in 2016. He tried to match 6.0 meters but failed on his three attempts. He becomes the 11th pole vaulter in history with multiple medals, and the third American (Richards, Bob Seagren).

But in this moment, Kendricks was just a fan of pole vault and a supporter of his good buddy. He joined the rest of the exuberant witnesses in pulling for Mondo as he hit the runway for a third time.

This time, Duplantis didn’t have to entice the crowd. It started the progressive clap on its own. As Duplantis scurried down the runway, the roaring crowd crescendo. The people in Stade de France knew this was it, an all or nothing attempt. And it was if the audience wanted to push Duplantis over with its energy.

He planted. He swung. And he cleared it. He was so high, you could stand a baguette between his pelvis and the bar.

The stadium erupted. As he fell to the mat, the crowd roared loud enough to rattle the spine. Duplantis popped off the mat and roared right back.

The greatest pole vaulter of all time set another world record. Of course he did. Mondo is inevitable.

“It’s hard to understand, honestly,” Duplantis said, pausing to gather his thoughts, shaking his head as he grappled with what happened. He took a deep breath. “If I don’t beat this moment in my career, I’m pretty ok with that. I don’t think you can really get much better than what happened.”

Required reading

(Photo: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)