Red Bull (who sponsors Mondo) calls Mondo the pole vaulting Usain Bolt. Is that a fair comparison?

Rojo, is English your first language?

I know this wasn't technically the original question, but I think Mondo's hair is awesome and Bolt's kids are adorbs.

This exactly. I’m fairly certain that given 2-3 weeks of preparation Christian Coleman would be the Usain Bolt of pole vaulting

Good enough comparison, but I really hope Mondo doesn’t tap his chest as he approaches the bar on his likely gold medal attempt this summer.

Usain Bolt and Mondo are the Caitlin Clark of Track and Field

Not gonna argue Mondo's greatness. Silly to do so. And he's a showman. He brings eyeballs to a sport desperate for attention. But, I think many are getting carried away with some of the comparisons:

Mondo Social Media: Instagram 547k, Twitter/X 35K

Bolt Social Media: Instagram 14mil, Twitter/X 4.8mil

Bolt is WAY more famous, and thus WAY more influential and impactful. There is no comparison here.

I agree with Crouser if you are looking for the Usain Bolt of all field events. The shot put is a much more commonly contested event and Crouser is physically a freak, even amongst throwers, like Bolt.

One clearly has a longer pole.

And unlike Mondo's, mine often no heights

rwdball nasty

They said he's "the pole vaulting Usain Bolt."

Never mentioned pole vaulting as less popular/niche event/more or less athletic.

Bolt is the best-ever sprinter, they're basically saying Mondo is the best-ever pole vaulter. Hard to argue with that. If anything, Mondo has been more dominant.

When people compare others to Usain Bolt, they're simply saying they are the best ever.

Why is this such a mental leap for some of you?

It's a more than fair comparison. I'd even go as far as saying it doesn't give enough credit to Mondo. Bolt's youth records have been largely surpassed. I can't conceive of a 10th grader going as high as Mondo did as a 10th grader (or any other age record Mondo has). Calling Mondo the Tiger Woods of Pole Vault might be the best analogy.

It doesn't matter that the pole vault and 100m are different events, attract a different level of competitiveness etc. It's why the phrase "of pole vaulting" is included. It's why one can say a person is the Michael Jordan of a niche sport. It's still a fair analogy, even if it is way less competitive sport than basketball. Including "of that sport" serves as the qualifier.

It's best not to compare anyone to guys like Bolt, Michael Jordan, Senna, Nickolas, The Beatles....

Mondo is the new Bubka.

not only are Bolt’s records still untouchable but he was bigger than the sport.

I doubt we’ll see the likes of him again regardless of how many comparisons people want to make.

I disagree. I think the comparison is apt because, among the few top athletes in their respective events, both Mondo and Bolt are/were essentially unbeatable. We're comparing them with their competition, not the general public.

Great comparison.

Bolt was the sport. (In fact, I'm still mad that he retired so early but I'm selfish like that.) Bolt was the reason people paid to come. BUT Mondo clears the bar by 20cm in his WR jumps. By comparison it is like Bolt stopping to walk the last 5m in route to his 9.58 when he could have run a 9.38 time.

Everyone runs, few people vault but both are icons. Nod goes to Bolt.

Nah the first commenter was right. No one said that what he’s doing isn’t hard as $hit butttttt vs the fastest man alive there is no comparison.