Armand "Mondo" Duplantis, a Louisiana native competing in the Summer Olympics in Paris for his mom's native country of Sweden, had already clinched the gold medal in men's pole vaulting on Monday night when he set out to achieve his next goal: breaking the Olympic record of 6.10 meters, or about 20 feet. The 24-year-old did just that before a cheering crowd at the Stade de France, but he wasn't done quite yet, per the AP. Instead of getting ready to head to the winners podium to collect his earned wares, Duplantis decided he wanted to literally raise the bar even higher, moving it one centimeter up to 6.25 meters, which would give him his ninth world record overall if he made it.
The AP and Washington Post note that Duplantis had two failed attempts at the 6.25-meter setting, but on the third attempt, the Olympian came through (watch him in action here). "Mondo flies over Paris!" a commentator exclaimed as the 24-year-old athlete achieved his feat, then rushed over to celebrate with his family, including dad Greg Duplantis, who's also his coach. "I don't even really care right now," Duplantis said after his record-breaking leap, per the Post. "Why would I care about anything else other than what just happened?" Meanwhile, two other notable pole-vault moments from the Games: an Estonian athlete who dramatically didn't make it over the bar, and a French pole vaulter who failed at his attempt for another, er, more intimate reason. (More 2024 Paris Olympics stories.)
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