Mondo Duplantis ‘always’ has fear of failure despite multiple world records, Olympic golds

He will aim for a seventh global title to go with his two Olympic golds this weekend, but pole vault maestro Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis is accompanied by a fear of failure every time he steps on the track.

Duplantis, who last week broke his own world record for the 15th time, has won 38 straight competitions; an invincible streak stretching back to July 2023.

But ahead of defending his World Indoor Championships crown in Torun, the Polish city where he originally relieved Renaud Lavillenie of the world-best mark back in February 2020, Duplantis said he could not allow himself “too much hubris”, and that a fear of failure existed “always … all the time”.

“You can’t be overconfident, or underestimate your opponents, or the sport and what you’re doing … I’ve never had that problem,” Duplantis told the South China Morning Post on a round table call for the world’s media.

“There’s no slacking off, it’s such a difficult sport, especially at this level. I feel I always have to bring my A-game. That’s my mentality coming into [every competition].

“Nothing is given to me … when I do good jumps, it looks pretty fluid and effortless in some ways, but a lot of effort still goes into it.”