World Athlete of the Year Mondo Duplantis (© World Athletics 
Soňa Maléterová)
World record-breaker, world champion, and now the 2025 World Athlete of the Year.
Swedish pole vault sensation Mondo Duplantis reflects on his season and looks ahead to 2026.
Duplantis and McLaughlin-Levrone named World Athletes of the Year
On winning the World Athlete of the Year Award:
"Thank you so much. This is such a huge honour. Thank you to the jury and World Athletics for voting me in yet again. I hope to keep pushing it. I hope to keep irritating everyone who has to vote for me for years to come. I'm proud to represent everyone who supports me – my family and my future wife. It's really important for me to win this for the field eventers. It's very special, I'm going to really cherish this one.
"I genuinely try to be the best version of myself that I can possibly be. I have a lot of joy that I hope to spread when I'm on the track; I have an immense passion and joy for what I do. I'm so obsessed with pole vaulting and I love pushing myself. I hope that I can inspire the next generation to try athletics, and even pole vaulting. If I can inspire even just a few people to do it, then I feel I'm doing my job."
Mondo Duplantis receives his World Athlete of the Year award in Monaco (© World Athletics 
Christel Saneh)
On 2025:
“This past year may be one of my favourite seasons because jumping a world record in Stockholm was really high up on my bucket list and, of course, I also wanted to break the 6.30m barrier at the World Championships. So, to be able to do both of those was just insane for me, because going into the year I would say they were two of the biggest goals that I had.
“But honestly, it was a really amazing year. Coming off of 2024 and the Olympics in Paris, it made me feel very free, in a way. I feel like my performance in Paris was so big, it was like everything else was a cherry on top. In some ways, there was less and less pressure, because I already did all this cool stuff so there’s nothing really left to lose, it’s only stuff to gain.”
On the importance of strong fan support:
“It's super important, especially in Tokyo, because I was out there for a very long time. Manolo (silver medallist Emmanouil Karalis) pushed me very hard and I had to take a lot more jumps. I don't know exactly, but I'm assuming that's the most jumps over six metres that I have had to take before a world record attempt. That’s of course, in large part, because of how well Manolo was jumping, how hard he was pushing me.
“So, it becomes very important, and then when you have that last attempt, and your back is against the wall and you're just trying to find that last little piece of energy you have left for one more good jump, you really can get a lot of that from the energy of the crowd. Everybody staying there, really supporting me and giving me a lot of good energy, that goes a really long way.”
On maintaining his hunger and setting goals:
“I feel like the hunger and the motivation is 100% still there. The real advantage to it is that I get to compete freely and just enjoy the whole journey. The victory is in the journey. I’m fortunate enough to really realise that now because I’ve done so many things that I could only have dreamed of accomplishing. I have the dinner, it’s just all dessert now – this is all the icing on the cake, the cherry on top. I’m just trying to enjoy the journey with amazing people around me.
“I set goals – I think that’s a very important thing. You can’t be aimless – you have to have something to strive for. Whether you get there or not, that’s not the most important thing, but you have to have something to chase. No matter what, I’m always chasing something.”
On the chance to add another title to his collection at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship in 2026:
“I'm super excited about it. As far as the list of achievements that I could do in athletics, I have pretty much checked them all off. But if we add a new event in the Ultimate Championship, that's something I haven’t done yet – that’s something I’d need to check off the list, and come away with victory there.
“I think the concept will be very exciting. Of course, I'm excited to go back to Budapest, too, because I jumped 6.29m there this past year, so I know that it's a fantastic place and a great place to jump. I know they're going to build it up even more. I think the crowd is going to be really good. For sure, that’s going to be the highlight next year.”
