We talk to the most dominant pole vaulter of the decade about why she doesn’t feel that way, what changes have brought her happiness and why she thinks she still has more to give.
Mondo Duplantis has completely revolutionized the art of pole vaulting. With his streak of record-breaking and gold-medal-winning performances, the American-born Swede is undoubtedly the dominant force on the men’s side.
Her exploits deservedly grabbed the headlines, but they also somewhat overshadowed Kathy Moon’s impressive haul of honors among women. The American picked up the pole again in training last month, having not touched one since September, capping another successful season in which she secured her third consecutive world title (the first woman to achieve the feat in her event), adding to a list of honors that also includes Olympic gold in 2021 and silver in Paris two years ago.
34-year-old 2026 started from a place of contentment. After the 2024 Olympics, she moved from her previous home base in Atlanta to Tulsa in 2024 with her husband, Hugo, who is the rowing coach at the University of Tulsa.
He is still coached by Brad Walker, but remotely, and enjoyment is at the forefront of his mind as he plans for the year ahead.
How do you assess 2025?
It was probably my favorite year of my career to date. Everything about it was just what I always wanted my career to be. I was living with my husband full time for the first time, training away from my trainer but using my trainer’s training plan.
Most of my career has had such negative stress and anxiety and fear and I just didn’t have any of it. it was fun. It was quiet but still very exciting and I still wanted it. From start to finish it was everything I hoped this career would be sooner. Looking back, I probably still needed that urgency and stress to get me to this point and appreciate it more.
It was a busy year with 15 events and eight wins, including the World Championship and the Diamond League Final.
Since the season was long, it made sense to have more competitions. It didn’t seem like much though because they were spaced out a bit more strategically. I think that was key to staying healthy and motivated. I will say there was a period where I struggled a little more than I usually do. There were a couple of matches where I just jumped, I think, my opening bar, so a little bit just scrapped, just figured some things out. Fortunately, we had time to do so.
Do you now accept that you are the best female runner of this decade? You won three world championships and one Olympic gold.
It’s hard for me to accept that, and one thing that helps me stay motivated is that I don’t feel that way. I guess I can’t argue with the stats, but it just feels so surreal because when you think of someone who has a title like that or is that good, you think of Mondo who wins everything and is bigger than life, and I just don’t feel that way. I’ve been going through my struggles all season and feel very “normal” if that’s the right word. It’s a strange thing to say, but I appreciate it. I think the stats might say you’re right, and that’s pretty cool.
How do you exercise now compared to when you were younger?
We’ve kept my workouts pretty consistent over the years, but this year looks a little different overall because we’ve climbed a lot slower. I restarted in November, just easy spinning. The first week was no running, endurance bike training, ergo endurance training, bodyweight exercises – pushups, bodyweight squats, lunges, that sort of thing. Then some endurance running, but maybe not as much volume as we’ve had in the past. We’re really focusing on my Achilles pre-treatment stuff and just making sure everything stays nice and healthy. And so I think we’re just moving much more slowly into the 2026 season. I don’t know how it will go because I’ve never done it before. But what I will say is that when I trust Brad to coach every year, it’s always gone well. I really feel like he knows what he’s doing.
How much have you changed technically over the years?
Quite a bit. My jump still has a lot of what it was before I worked with Brad. But when I was younger, and I wanted to try and explain it without going overboard with the technique of pole vaulting, I just wasn’t running very efficiently. I was fast on the runway, but in the pole vault, if you slow it down, (ideally) you’ll see both arms straight up to open the bar, to bend the bar. The body then passes through, turns upside down, and throws (the form) to the athlete.
Well, one of my arms will just collapse right in the air and no matter how much speed you have, it limits the size of the pole you can climb. The stiffer the rod, the higher it will throw you if you can open it. It’s like a coiled spring, and the stiffer that spring is, if you can push it down, the faster and more explosive it will come back. The same goes for bars, so I was limiting myself as to what size bar I could climb.
As well as the fact that I was always a little afraid. It’s a very scary way to pole vault and I didn’t know how to think, how to focus and what to tell myself to do on the runway. I would just run down, put my hands up and hope for the best and rely purely on adrenaline.
Brad took my runway insecurities and made it look simple. We were just working on the drills and when I got to a point where I wasn’t afraid of it, then I could actually try to do what he was telling me to do, open the bar and just charge aggressively instead of leaning back and hesitating. The easiest way to explain it is that I just became more confident and more aggressive in the last few steps of the climb and therefore took the speed I had generated during the jump run as I should have.
There’s still a lot to my flying that I don’t think coaches necessarily teach their athletes. I definitely have some elements of my jump that aren’t perfect. I still don’t have the best flight from a textbook perspective, but it’s a lot better than it was. I think we’re marrying what my body naturally wants to do and what it’s good at and we’re getting closer to “perfection”.
Your personal best is 4.95m as of 2021. What does it take to get the five meter magic mark?
It’s there. I feel that physically it comes down to being on the right pole under the right conditions on the right day, and I don’t think that’s far off. There’s really nothing I’d necessarily have to change to make this happen; it’s just that the higher the bar, the closer to perfect. But I feel physically capable of jumping five meters plus.
Now, of course, the later I get into my career, (the likelihood of that happening) becomes less and less, I know that, so who knows? Maybe all that potential will disappear this season, but I’ve definitely had potential in previous years.
In Tokyo, if Sandi had cleared that 4.90m bar (she was second at 4.85m), maybe we’d both clear 4.95m and make it to five meters. Same with the Paris Olympics when the grandstand broke. I really don’t know if the results would have been any different in terms of places, but I definitely think we all could have jumped higher.
I think having a competitor still at 4.90m plus just elevates the rest of the field. It’s not a drill for anyone, it’s just a championship. When you get into the 4.90m plus area and those really high bars, I think there are a few different factors. At the end of the day, I really feel like I’m physically capable of it, but everything has to fit.
