Former LSU star Mondo Duplantis picks up a gold at worlds

Aug 05, 2023

Former LSU track and field star Armand Duplantis did it again Saturday. So did his former teammate, Sha'Carri Richardson.

The two former Tigers once again made their mark on the international stage when they struck gold at the world championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Duplantis, the world record holder in the indoor and outdoor pole vault, again showed why he's the greatest vaulter of all time when he won the gold medal for the second time in the world outdoor championships.

About 35 minutes later, Richardson capped a tremendous showing at the worlds when she anchored the USA's gold medal-winning run over favored Jamaica in the 4x100-meter relay.

It was the third medal for Richardson in the past six days. On Monday, she won gold in the 100 meters and Friday picked up the bronze in the 200.

Duplantis, who competes for Sweden, easily took the gold with a mark of 20 feet even over The Philippines' Ernest John Obiena, who cleared 19-8¼ inches for the silver.

Duplantis took six jumps, starting with the opening height of 18-2½, and easily cleared the bar each time to win the competition at the National Athletics Center.

After securing the gold medal, he took three attempts at 20-5¼ — which would have broken his own world outdoor mark of 20-4¼.

He had three good looks at it, barely brushing the bar on his first and third tries as a huge crowd spurred him on in hot, humid conditions.

It was the third medal for Duplantis at the world outdoor championships. He was the silver medalist in 2019 at the age of 19 and also has golds from the 2022 world indoors and 2020 Tokyo Olympics (held in 2021).

Duplantis, who competed for LSU in 2019 before turning pro, is the first Tiger athlete to win two individual gold medals at the world outdoor meet.

The only other former LSU athletes to win gold in an individual event at the world outdoors, joining Richardson and Walter Davis, who took the triple jump gold in 2005.

For Richardson, who also competed at LSU for just one season in 2019 before pursuing her pro career, Saturday's win in the sprint relay was the cherry on top of a huge week.

Friday, Richardson became the first U.S. woman to bring home two medals from the short sprints at the same world championship meet since Carmelita Jeter in 2011.

But it was all about the team Saturday for the 23-year-old Dallas native.

She combined with Tamari Davis, Twanisha Terry and Gabby Thomas to clock a world-championships record of 41.03 seconds. It was the fastest time ever for a U.S. quartet outside of Olympic competition.

The race was close between the U.S., Jamaica and Italy when Thomas handed the baton to Richardson for the anchor leg.

But Richardson ran away from Jamaican anchor Shericka Jackson, who handily won the 200 Friday after settling for the silver medal behind Richardson in the 100 final.

Jamaica finished with a time of 41.21 seconds, while Great Britain got up for the bronze in 41.97.

On Sunday, former LSU star Vernon Norwood will race for another medal in the 4x400 relay final at 2:37 p.m. (NBC) as the nine-day meet comes to a close.

A two-time NCAA 400 meters champion at LSU, the 31-year-old Norwood already owns nine medals from the Olympics and world championships.

Norwood, who finished fourth in the open 400 final on Thursday, was given the day off when the U.S. team competed in the heats Saturday.

The Americans qualified for the final when they won their heat in 2 minutes, 58.47 seconds — which was the fastest of the two heats.

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