Sha’Carri Richardson, the track and field prodigy, has made her mark with some incredible exhibits in this athletic year. Clinching a gold in 100m at the World Athletics Championship, the world came at her foot when she took her 4 x 100 m relay team to glory as well. 200m may not be her strong suit, but the star performer bagged a bronze behind Shericka Jackson and Shelly-Ann. That’s not all. The 23-year-old former LSU athlete seized another gold at the Zurich Diamond League, clocking an extraordinary 10.88s.

Accompanying her on track was her favorite fellow LSU athlete, Mondo Duplantis. Both Sha’carri and Mondo showcased their expertise on the Budapest athletic ground. The Swedish-American held his thrilling pole vault win for the second time in a row. Ahead of the Prefontaine Classic, Mondo expressed his distress, acknowledging that both Sha’carri and he have grown up too fast.

Sha’Carri Richardson’s LSU teammate talks about their relationship

With the Eugene Diamond League an hour away, both the star athletes have girded up the loins for smashing their personal records. Tracks fans are awaiting her 100m win and his incredible pole vault display alike. In a recent pre-game interview, Track & Field Gazette caught Mondo in his unreserved self. The American-born Swed reminisced about the college days when both the 23-year-old and he would dominate the track.

Track Field & Gazette captioned the post as “Mondo Duplantis on his freshman year in LSU with Sha’Carri Richardson.” Even though both of them represented their own birth nations, they were always perfectly in accord with each other. Mondo said, “It’s a little bit of a serious situation. Especially cause time’s weird, everything just goes so fast. It was just yesterday that we were teenagers, just kids,just freshman in college…being stupid”. Mondo’s tone implies that he’s still trying to get acclimatized to the fast-paced world.

For a notable pole vaulter like him, it may look unlikely to portray emotional frailty. But it’s absolutely not. Mondo didn’t shy away from confessing his love for the old days with Richardson. He further added, “We were always both huge dreams, and we knew that we could be in the situation that we are today. But everything happened that it has, and we are doing what we manifested or we always thought we could do”. 

To be specific, he doubted things to be smooth, since the sports world is tough. However, through it all Mondo always had someone behind him whom he called as his cheerleader.

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Mondo Duplantis’s best cheerleader

The NBC Olympics and Paralympics posted a video of Sha’Carri cheering on Mondo at the World Athletics Championship. They captioned the post,  “Sha’Carri Richardson was cheering for Mondo Duplantis before his 200m heat!” The former LSU athletes never skipped a chance to show the world their support for each other, on professional and personal grounds.

In the video, the sprinter screamed at the top of her voice, yelling, “Oh yes, I saw my Mondo; he’s one of my favorite people in the world.” Like Duplantis, Richardson utilized her cheerleading moment to acknowledge the depth of their friendship.

However, Duplantis is content that both of them shared the World Championships glamor in the same year, like a little college reunion. Track fanatics await both of their dominance in the Eugene Diamond League. With fingers crossed and hopes up, the two talented former teammates are aiming for the golden stars.

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