Armand Duplantis sets pole vault record at 2024 Diamond League final

Omega Closing Ceremony at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Pic-File)

3 minutes reading Last updated: September 14, 2024 | 3:26 p.m. IST

Pole vaulter Armand Duplantis capped a great season with a competition record in the Diamond League final that was far from his world record.

Duplantis has broken the world record three times this year; the second time was when he won his second Olympic gold medal in Paris, and the most recent was at a championship competition in Poland on Aug. 25, when he cleared 6.26 meters.

But after running a 5.92 that no one else could match in Brussels, he managed a 6.11 on his first attempt and stopped. That was a centimetre more than his own Van Damme Memorial record set last year, and he said he was too tired to continue.

He later said his 100 metres victory over 400 hurdles world record holder Karsten Warholm in Zurich last week had taken more effort than he expected.

“Tonight my legs felt terrible and I’m really tired,” Duplantis said. “It’s been a crazy few weeks: the race against Karsten and the jump the next day. It took a lot more out of my body than I expected.”

With 6.11 I got a good result, but the world record was not guaranteed. It is not easy to do better every time. Everything has to fall into place. I did some good jumps tonight and I am really happy about it. Now it is time to celebrate my great season.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the men’s 1,500 meters in a photo finish. The Norwegian clocked 3:30.07 after a typical final surge. Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot finished a close second in 3:30.93, narrowly beating Cole Hocker, the surprise American Olympic champion, by 0.01 seconds.

Hocker’s American compatriot Yared Nuguse, who won the championship race in Zurich last week, was sixth, less than two seconds behind Ingebrigtsen.

Ingebrigtsen unexpectedly missed out on a 1,500m medal at the Olympics, but won gold in the 5,000m. He won the league 1,500m in Lausanne and broke the 3,000m world record a few days later.

“Throughout the season I had good races and bad ones, so I hope to do better next year,” he said.

Olympic champion Julien Alfred’s duel with world champion Sha’Carri Richardson in the 100 metres did not take place. Alfred won in 10.88 seconds. Dina Asher-Smith finished second and Marie Josee Ta Lou-Smith third. Richardson finished eighth.

Jamaican Ackeem Blake won the men’s 100m in a photo finish of 9.93 seconds ahead of Americans Christian Coleman (10.00) and Olympic bronze medallist Fred Kerley (10.01).

Australian discus thrower Matthew Denny broke the 40-year-old competition record. His first throw of 69.96 metres was two centimetres longer than the 1984 competition record held by Imrich Bugar. He was also good enough for the night, more than a metre ahead of second-placed Mykolas Alekna, the world record holder.

(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First published: September 14, 2024 | 3:26 p.m. IST