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Louise Thomas
Editor
Armand “Mondo” Duplantis – the Swedish-American pole vaulter who broke a world record at the Paris 2024 Olympics – celebrated his big win with a kiss from his girlfriend in what looked like a scene straight out of a movie.
On Monday, August 5, the 24-year-old athlete broke a world record after he reached 6.25m during the men’s pole vault final, securing the gold medal for Sweden. As soon as he landed back on the mat, Duplantis immediately ran over to his Swedish model girlfriend, Desiré Inglander, in the crowd.
The TikTok star, dressed in Team Sweden gear, appeared to be in tears as she wrapped her arms around Duplantis. Cameras captured the pair kissing, while fans cheered behind them. Inglander shared a video of the epic moment to her Instagram, which showed Duplantis making his way toward her in the stands.
“My boyfriend just broke the world record in the Olympics,” she wrote over the clip, as thousands of commenters gushed over his romantic gesture.
“I just saw the moment he ran to you and it’s so cuteee omg,” one Instagram user said, while someone else wrote back: “Right?? I was literally crying when he did.”
“The way that you were the first person he ran to,” another pointed out.
The Louisiana native, whose mother is from Sweden, has broken the world record for pole vault nine times total. In fact, his 6.25m pole vault during Monday’s final broke his own record of 6.24m, which he set in the Xiamen Diamond League earlier this year.
“I haven’t processed how fantastic that moment was,” he told reporters after his historic jump, per the Olympics website. “It’s one of those things that don’t really feel real, such an out-of-body experience. It’s still hard to kind of land right now.”
Duplantis explained that it’s been his “biggest dream” since he was a child to “break the world record at the Olympics,” noting now that he’s done so “in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of.”
The gold medalist and the 22-year-old social media star began dating in 2020 after meeting at a Midsummer party in Stockholm, the couple recently told Vogue Scandinavia. Inglander described herself at the time as “very single and not ready to mingle,” having just graduated from high school.
After months of unsuccessful attempts from Duplantis to take her out on a date, Ignlander finally agreed just weeks before the pole vaulter left to train in the United States. The model has landed partnerships with several luxury brands, including Intimissimi, L’Oreal, and sportswear label Aim’n.
“Desiré brings me such a great balance in life,” Duplantis said. “It’s so nice to be able to come home and escape into a completely different world, absorb ourselves in each other and whatever we’re doing. She’s a great travel buddy.”
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