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Lafayette native Mondo Duplantis named Laureus World Sportsman of the Year
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BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — Olympic pole vault champion and Lafayette native Mondo Duplantis was named the 2025 Laureus World Sportsman of the Year.
Duplantis won his second Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He has broken his pole vault world record three times. The current world record is 6.27 meters or 20 feet and 6.75 inches.
Laureus is a global charitable organization that, according to its website, "celebrates sporting excellence and uses the power of sport to transform the lives of children and young people."
Duplantis is only the second track & field athlete to win the Laureus World Sportsman of the Year award. According to an LSU Athletics news release, Usain Bolt has won it three times. He also joins former Stanford golfer Tiger Woods as the second former NCAA athlete to get the award.
Tennis star Novak Djokovic presented the trophy to Duplantis during the Monday ceremony in Madrid, Spain. Djokovic was the 2024 winner, following Lionel Messi in 2023 and Formula One driver Max Verstappen in 2022.
Other 2025 finalists were tennis player Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, swimmer Leon Marchand of France, cyclist Tadej Pogacar of Slovenia and Verstappen.