Mondo Duplantis may be the most talented athlete of his generation. Yes, he has that wonderful ego, and a matched level of competitiveness, but the talent, and the work ethic are there as well.
Watch the interview below. Mondo Duplantis is getting to that place that Renaud Lavillenie was in 2014, when he not only broke the WR, but gashed his foot when he went for the moon.
I recall watching a video of David Bedford, the former WR holder at 10,000m, and former elite coordinator of the Virgin London Maratrhon as he ran one of the fastest 10,000m in history solo. How solo? Well, by 1000m, he had 20 seconds. By the last 800m, Bedford had lapped the field, some twice, and was doing this in a GBR vs France International. In the video you see Bedford, churning up the track, in his own heaven and hell at the same time, as team mate Alan Pascoe cheers him on from the field. Bedford was having one of those momernts. He had a few in his career.
A few weeks ago, I watched Donavan Brazier look back, ho-hum, and run the second fastest 600m indoors in history. When I spoke with him ten minutes later, he was fully recovered. Brazier said something about always being ready for a fast time. He said it so matter of factly, I was surprised.
World records are peculiar things. You MUST have the perfect storm. Mondo Duplantis is coming to that place where 6.10 meters may seem commonplace. Only his coach and he know his fitness, but, I suspect it is amazing.
Watch him jump in Torun. One does not need to be in Donetsk, in an old airodome, among a cloud of rising cigarette smoke, to set a World record. The Polish fans will go crazy.
Mondo Duplantis: “Troligen karriärens bästa hopp” pic.twitter.com/BBAv89gUil
— Eurosport Sverige (@EurosportSE) February 4, 2020
Duplantis says Saturday will be something you´ll want to watch
TORUN (POL): Armand Mondo Duplantis is clearly the hot number of 2020 indoor season. “I feel like I kind of put it on myself now,” he said for World Athletics. “Because after Dusseldorf, now everyone kind of expects it. Sooner rather than later. I know people have high expectations of me, and I have high expectations of myself. I try not to think about (breaking the world record) too much and try to take it meet-by-meet and just let it happen. Because I know it’s a process.” Pressed on whether another world record assault was on tap for tomorrow, Duplantis tried to temper expectations, but only to a point. “I don’t know what to expect here but I don’t feel like much has changed in the past four days. There’s a lot of steps to get to the world record. I have to get six metres first. I don’t want to bite off more than I chew right now.” Nonetheless, he said, “I think it will be something you’ll want to watch.” Writes World Athletics.
