Mondo Duplantis and Sha'Carri Richardson will visit their alma mater LSU on November 8, 2024, for the Golden Hour: A Cocktail Hour, owing to their success at the Paris Olympics. Duplantis won the pole vault gold and lowered his world record for the ninth time, while Richardson won the 100m silver and anchored the 4x100m relay team to the coveted gold.
The pole vaulter joined LSU in 2018 (the same year as Richardson) and won an SEC Championship the following year and silver in the pole vault at the 2019 NCAA Division I Championships. That same year, he decided to turn professional and thus forwent his remaining NCAA eligibility. Richardson, who broke the 100m collegiate record by clocking 10.75s at the 2019 NCAA Division I Championships, also let go of her NCAA opportunity the same year.
Though Duplantis and the reigning 100m world champion didn't have much time together in LSU, they have had each other's backs since then. On the former's gold-winning feat at the 2024 World Indoor Championships, Richardson took to her Instagram stories to hail her fellow LSU alum.
"It's not a plane, ITS MONDOOO," her caption read.
On November 8, 2024, the long-time friends will be present at the Golden Hour: A Cocktail Hour, alongside other notable Olympians at the Country Club, Louisiana, as per an update via Bayou Traditions.
Duplantis won his maiden Olympic gold in pole vault at the 2020 Tokyo Games. Richardson qualified for the 100m but a positive drug test ended her dreams of competing in Tokyo.
When Mondo Duplantis shared that he and Sha'Carri manifested their dreams and won world titles at the same event
After Richardson soared to her debut title at the 2023 World Championships, the event which also marked Mondo Duplantis' pole vault title win, the latter talked about how they both dreamt and manifested their success.
"We also both had huge dreams and we knew that we could be in the situation that we are today but everything happened in the way that it has and we actually are doing what we always manifested what we could do," Duplantis said (in a post-race interview).
He continued:
"...For us to be here and both win the world championships in the same year, feel like it was just yesterday we were both in college together, it’s pretty nice."
The pole vaulter ran his fellow LSU alum's event, the 100m, in an exhibition race with 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm before the 2024 Zurich Diamond League.