Armand Duplantis and Sha'Carri Richardson's LSU's 'First Day of College' picture goes viral as pair bag medals at Paris Olympics

Modified Aug 07, 2024 14:55 GMT

Armand Duplantis and Sha'carri Richardson made their mark in impressive fashion at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Richardson bagged the silver medal in the women's 100-meter final on Saturday (August 3), finishing behind Saint Lucia's Julien Alfred. She finished with a time of 10.87 seconds, while Alfred took top honors with a 10.72-second effort.

Duplantis, on the other hand, was a lot more impressive in the French capital. He secured the pole vault gold medal on Monday with a vault of 6.00m. Later, he cleared the bar at a new world record height of 6.25m.

Incidentally, both Richardson and Duplantis are enrolled at Louisiana State University (LSU). They began their LSU careers in 2018, and on their first day of college, they took a photo together which has now gone viral on social media following their heroics at the Summer Games.

The picture can be viewed below:

Expand Tweet

In their freshman years, Duplantis won an NCAA indoor title while Richardson won it outdoors. They were also co-finalists for the prestigious Bowerman Award, where Richardson won the women's honor.

The 24-year-old Swedish-American reflected on his connection with Richardson earlier this year, stating that they were both aware that they could achieve big things in sports.

"It's weird in a way. Because I think both of us, we knew we were capable of these kinds of things. But, you know, in sports, not everything pans out the way that you think it is going to," Duplantis told Olympics.com.

"I'm so proud of her. It's such a weird thing to think where we were then, not even just as athletes, [but] as people, too. And then to see where we are now, it's super special," he added.

"Such an out-of-body experience" - Armand Duplantis on breaking world record at Paris Olympics

Armand Duplantis at the 2024 Paris Olympics - Getty Images

For Armand Duplantis, breaking world records has become second nature. He has now done it nine times in his career. He cleared 6.24m at the Xiamen Diamond League in April to set the new world record, which he broke at the Paris Olympics with a 6.25m vault.

After clinching gold in Paris, Duplantis told the media that he was ecstatic about breaking the world record on the biggest stage possible.

“I haven’t processed how fantastic that moment was. It’s one of those things that don’t really feel real, such an out-of-body experience. It’s still hard to kind of land right now,” he said.

“What can I say? I just broke a world record at the Olympics, the biggest possible stage for a pole vaulter. [My] biggest dream since a kid was to break the world record at the Olympics, and I’ve been able to do that in front of the most ridiculous crowd I’ve ever competed in front of,” he added.

The 24-year-old has an incredible record at major international outdoor events. He has now won the gold medal at the past three worlds as well as the last two Olympic Games.