Mondo Duplantis surprises girlfriend Desire Inglander with a proposal during 'Vogue' shoot
World's no. 1 pole vaulter Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis and Desiré Inglader are engaged!
The 24-year-old Swedish-American pole vault star knelt on one knee in front of his girlfriend of four years, 23-year-old Swedish model and content creator Desiré Inglander in The Hamptons. He popped the question and gave his then-girlfriend an oval-cut diamond on a gold band.
While posing for a Vogue Scandinavia editorial, Desiré was unaware of Mondo's secret plan. He had orchestrated a surprise engagement with the magazine's assistance.
“This is way more nerve-wracking [than competing]” Mondo told the publication ahead of the proposal.
Duplantis revealed to Vogue that he knew Desiré was his future wife "for years," ever since they met at a Midsummer party in 2020. He waited until after his Olympic victory to start planning, "on the way home from the Olympics, actually – on the flight," he said.
“The second after the Olympics was done, I was ready to do it,” he said.
As a final surprise, Mondo had coordinated for both families and Inglander's closest friends from Stockholm and Louisiana to be present to celebrate their engagement right after the photo shoot concluded.
Desiré, meanwhile, was in a state of disbelief. “I’m still shocked,” she said. “I’m such a control freak, it’s impossible to surprise me.”
“That’s always been my dream – to gather everybody," Desiré added.
The couple met in 2020 at a party in Sweden. Mondo wanted to strike up a conversation with Desiré, but the latter "just wanted to dance."
“Finally I just sent her a message more or less saying, ‘I leave in a few weeks for the United States. Let me take you on a date. Just say yes,’” he recalled. The two have since been together.
“Desiré brings me such a great balance in life,” he told Vogue Scandinavia in June 2024. “It’s so nice to be able to come home and escape into a completely different world, absorb ourselves in each other and whatever we’re doing.”