The two-time Olympic champion and serial world record breaker looks forward to an action-packed 2026, which includes a wedding, musical pursuits, and more bar-raising exploits.
It is safe to say Armand Duplantis has mastered the pole vault. In just five years, he has broken the world record in the athletics discipline 14 times, won back-to-back Olympic titles, and collected six world gold medals – three indoors and three outdoors.
But these accomplishments pale in comparison to the pressures of what he considers his ‘life dream’: “Be a great father. That is what success would mean to me.”
Duplantis, who is yet to have children, made the revelation during a call with members of the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) on 2 January. The 26-year-old Swede was named the Best Male Athlete of the Year by the AIPS Champions of 2025, beating global stars such as Carlos Alcaraz, Ousmane Dembele, and Tadej Pogačar for top honours.
A year after winning a second straight Olympic title, Duplantis continued to break new ground in the pole vault, putting the sport in the global spotlight. He breathed rarified air, setting four world records, winning his third consecutive indoor and outdoor global titles in 2025.
“I just try to push it as high as I possibly can, and try to better myself, and try to break as many world records as possible,” Duplantis said about his unprecedented achievements in recent years.
“Hopefully, it is a positive thing, and I can bring our sport and everyone who does it into the spotlight or inspire some people and motivate them to be better versions of themselves.
“I really love this sport, and I’ve been obsessed with it since I was a child, so if I can put pole vault at the forefront and a little bit in the spotlight, then for me, that is the most important thing.”
Duplantis brought the curtain down on a spectacular season, winning the gold medal at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo with a record-breaking vault of 6.30 metres.
The once-in-a-generation superstar has already raised the pole vault bar to stratospheric heights since he set the world record for the first time at 6.17m at an indoor meeting in February 2020.
Not one to remain stagnant, Duplantis has his sights set on reaching 6.40m, which he admits would require some major adjustments and extra hard work.
“It is coming. The natural progression of things, it would probably take a few steps to get to 6.40m, but I am definitely on my way,” he said.
“I feel I have shown myself physically and technically that the 6.40m bar is very possible. It is not something that I would say will happen automatically, magically, and probably not even next year.
“It is something I have in my capabilities for my career. We’ll see, I am just going to keep pushing it one at a time and see what I can get. I don’t think so extremely far into the future. It is very much one season at a time.”
Duplantis is gearing up for an action-packed 2026, where he will juggle sport, his musical pursuits, and marrying fiancée Desiré Inglander.
On the athletic front, Duplantis will look forward to the World Indoors and the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship taking place in Budapest from 11 to 13 September.
While Duplantis’ primary focus at the moment is on building his athletics legacy, he is already contemplating life beyond sport.
“I am going to get married this upcoming year, which is a big change in my life, and so I am taking that next step and then hopefully down the road have kids and whatnot.”
Source: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/armand-duplantis-my-life-dream-is-to-be-a-great-father