Armand Duplantis talks about fear of heights and the goal of 6.40 meters at the Trento Sports Festival

I'm actually afraid of heights. The speech by Armand Mondo Duplantis, Olympic and world pole vault champion and world record holder 15 times (the last at 6.31), guest in Trento on the occasion of the Sports Festival, opens with a joke. "I'm living a dream, as a child I always dreamed of being the best in the world", said the Swedish athlete, recalling his first steps in the home garden thanks to the passion transmitted by his father and the origin of his nickname, linked to a Sicilian family friend in Louisiana.

Praising the discipline as "a mix between a dance and a medieval battle, beautiful and brutal", Duplantis has no doubts about his next great athletic goal: "I'm looking at 6 meters 40, this is my goal and I will prepare for this". To do so, the champion confirmed his choice to give up the indoor season to recover physical and mental energy in view of the outdoor events and already project himself towards the Los Angeles Games. "I take this decision to give my body the time to recover and prepare it needs, so as to be at the highest level when I return to competition - the champion announced in a note, before going on stage in Trento - "I will focus on training to be very ready for the 2027 outdoor season, which will start in May and continue until the World Championships in mid-September" in Beijing.

“I had a fantastic season this year, but the season was also very exhausting, with an extremely demanding racing calendar over the summer.” In short, Duplantis believes he "did not have enough time to prepare for the intense competitive calendar". There is also room for certificates of esteem for his colleagues: from Gianmarco Tamberi, defined as "a charismatic leader with a winning mentality", to his friend and neighbor in Monte Carlo Jannik Sinner, "a really down to earth guy". Finally, a mention of his new musical parenthesis: "It makes me vulnerable and that's what I like. When I jump I even feel too confident, I needed something different."