Track and field athlete Mondo Duplantis, known for his mastery in pole vaulting, is preparing for the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary. He is accustomed to executing incredible jumps with apparent ease, and now the Swedish athlete demonstrates the same confidence by performing high notes.
A two-time Olympic champion and world record holder, who consistently pushed the bar to an impressive 6.31m, has added the status of composer to his resume. Duplantis wrote and performed the song 'Gold,' which is the official anthem of the first World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
This composition, released globally in August, serves as the main soundtrack for the three-day high-level competition. To conclude the intense weekend, Duplantis plans to swap the pole for a microphone and present the anthem during the closing ceremony on Sunday, September 13th.
This is not an isolated case. Duplantis first presented his musical project with the single 'Bop' in 2025 and has since released a series of tracks, accumulating over 11 million streams on Spotify. The world champion even jokingly admitted that he dreams of a Grammy nomination.
For Duplantis, music serves as a vital way to relieve the tension associated with the intense pressure of elite competition. It is worth noting that the song 'Gold' was created to reflect the unifying energy and spirit of athletics.
He is not the only athlete balancing sports and music. American 800-meter runner Nia Atkins maintains a parallel career as a singer-songwriter under the pseudonym Teddy Oliver, using music as her creative sanctuary.
However, Duplantis has elevated the appeal of such a crossover to a whole new level. While his fellow World Champions are focused solely on winning medals and a share of the $10 million prize fund (about 160 million ringgit), the world's dominant pole vaulter is doing double duty. After rewriting the history of athletics centimeter by centimeter, Duplantis is now preparing to close the biggest new global event of 2026 under the stadium lights.