A 2018 photo from “First Day of College” is going viral because of the two Olympic medalists it features.
The photo was taken by Louisiana State University in the fall of 2018 and shows American sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson and Swedish-American pole vaulter Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis.
Both athletes hold up signs stating that this is their first day of school and that they have some goals in life.
Not only did they accurately predict where they would be at that moment, they also shared fun facts about their favorite athletes.
Richardson said her favorite was Usain Bolt, while Duplantis chose his mother Helena Hedlund Duplantis, a former heptathlete and volleyball player.
This 2018 image of Armand Duplantis and Sha’Carri Richardson has gone viral
Even though the two come from different countries, they still have a bond: they were track and field stars for the Bayou Bengals.
At the 2023 World Athletics Championships, Richardson told NBC she “saw my Mondo” and called him “one of my favorite people in my life.”
Duplantis said, reflecting on his time at the university and his relationship with Richardson, Olympic Games.com‘I think it’s a bit of a surreal situation because time is weird.
“Everything happens so fast because it feels like just yesterday we were teenagers, we were just kids and we were freshmen doing the things that freshmen do, just being stupid.”
Duplantis is originally from Sweden, but he was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana and is the son of American pole vaulter Greg Duplantis.
In 2019, Richardson won The Bowerman award, which is given to the nation’s best female athlete. Duplantis was a finalist for the award that same year. They both turned pro shortly after.
In Tokyo, the two LSU Tigers did their alma mater justice by winning a medal in their respective events.
Richardson, one of the favourites in the women’s 100 metres, won a silver medal after being beaten by 0.15 seconds by Julian Alfred of Saint Lucia.
Richardson won a silver medal for her strong performance in the 100 meter sprint
Meanwhile, Duplantis broke his own world record and won gold in the pole vault
Duplantis won gold in the pole vault, while simultaneously setting the world record by jumping 6.25 meters (20 feet, 6 inches).
Despite having the same goals, it may have been difficult for the two incoming freshmen to predict where they would be all these years later, based on their 2018 photo.
‘We both had big dreams and we knew we could end up in the situation we’re in now, but everything went the way it went and we’re basically doing what we always wanted to do. [hoped]’, which showed what we could do,’ Duplantis continued.
“It’s very different, because sport is hard and not everything goes the way you think. The fact that we’re here and both win the world championship in the same year, while it feels like it was yesterday that we were still at university together, is quite beautiful.”