A shock pole vault defeat last month came as a needed wake-up call, said world record holder Mondo Duplantis, who arrives at Friday’s Monaco Diamond League meet fired up to get back to his winning ways.
The high-flying Swede is already a legend having broken the world record 15 times, but his run of 40 straight victories came to an abrupt end in front of his compatriots in Stockholm.
He failed in both attempts to clear six metres at the Diamond League event and came up short in a final attempt at clearing 6.05. He recovered three weeks later to win in Paris but was unable to best his own world record mark of 6.31.
"Coming off of a bit of a poor performance in Stockholm made me more motivated and more hungry," said Duplantis, adding that he was able to recapture his focus after his June 12 nuptials.
"I'm really ready to roll and I really haven't been this fired up to jump in, I feel like, a long time. So I feel good about it. I think sometimes you need a little bit of a wake-up."
The back-to-back Olympic champion said he was in superb shape for Monaco, where he has recently taken up residency.
"It's going to be the home turf for the first time," said Duplantis, adding that he had to fight for the event's inclusion in the meet, which adds even more motivation when he picks up the pole on Friday.
"I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself before this competition, which is a really good thing."
