Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis raised his own world pole vault record once again at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Stockholm as he cleared 6.28m* at his first attempt in the 1912 Olympic Stadium on Sunday (15).
Breaking the world record is something the 25-year-old two-time Olympic champion had done on 11 previous occasions – but never before had he done so in his home stadium, and his joy was unbounded as he leapt from the pit, ripped off his shirt and pumped his fists amid the general uproar.
A first-time clearance of 6.00m had seen off the lingering challenge of his last rival on the day, Australia’s Kurtis Marschall, but rather than targeting his own meeting record of 6.16m, Duplantis set the bar straight up to a height one centimetre beyond the 6.27m he cleared indoors at Clermont-Ferrand in February.
Inside the final 30 seconds of allotted time after waiting for what little breeze there was to drop, the centre of attention matched all expectations as he sailed over with only the faintest of contact with the bar. World record number 12, and counting.
“I feel full to the brim right now,” said Duplantis, who cleared 6.15m in Oslo on Thursday. “I’ve got a lot of family here. The first time I jumped in this stadium when I was 11 years old, it was rainy and cold, and I jumped right under four metres – it was quite high for how young I was.
“I’m just going to enjoy this, enjoy the moment right now. There’s not much between me and 6.30m, technically. I’m just a perfect day away from it.”
Within 15 minutes the home crowd had further cause for celebration as Sweden’s Andreas Almgren set a European 5000m record of 12:44.27 after a grimly determined last lap timed at just over 58 seconds. The mark eclipsed the area record of 12:45.01 set in 2023 by Spain’s Mohamed Katir, who is currently serving a suspension.
“This is probably the most memorable night of my life and career so far,” said Almgren, who finished more than 13 seconds clear of runner-up Kuma Girma. “I wanted to give the spectators from my home city something to remember. When the pacemaker dropped off and Girma was unable to hold the pace, I decided to go for it – nobody remembers a coward.”
The buzz of excitement received a final charge as Olympic champion Rai Benjamin of the United States won the concluding men’s 400m hurdles in the seventh meeting record of a warm athlete-friendly evening, clocking 46.54 – the fastest time run so far this season.
Three days earlier in Oslo, Benjamin had misjudged the final barrier in a 300m hurdles race in which his perennial rival Karsten Warholm of Norway, the 400m hurdles world record-holder, had improved his own world best to 32.67.
This time it was Warholm whose performance dipped at the close as, after reaching the final straight in lane seven with a lead, he was unable to hold off the surging US athlete, or Brazil’s 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos who was second in 46.68. Warholm finished third in 47.41.
Kenya’s 20-year-old Olympic 800m champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi also produced a world-leading performance over two laps as he replicated his front-running effort in Oslo to win in 1:41.95, with Algeria’s Olympic bronze medallist Djamel Sedjati second in 1:42.27 and Josh Hoey of the United States third in a personal best of 1:42.43.
Wanyonyi, however, was not among the meeting record-breakers as that distinction remains with Wilson Kipketer, who ran 1:41.73 in 1997 to equal what was then Sebastian Coe’s world record.
Femke Bol, the Dutch world champion, had got the Diamond League programme off to a flying start on a benignly warm evening by setting the first of the meeting records as she won the 400m hurdles in 52.11, with the 2016 Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad second in 52.91.
USA’s Olympic champion Tara Davis-Woodhall earned the laurels against a stacked long jump field with a meeting record of 7.05m from her opening effort, with Italy’s Larissa Iapichino second on 6.90m and Jasmine Moore, the Paris 2024 bronze medallist in this event and the triple jump, third on 6.76m.
Grace Stark of the United States joined the meeting record club with a 100m hurdles time of 12.33 after overhauling The Bahamas’ fast-starting world indoor champion Devynne Charlton. Jamaica’s world indoor bronze medallist Ackera Nugent was second in 12.37.
Three days after winning her opening 100m of the season in Oslo in 10.89, Julien Alfred set a meeting record of 10.75 in imperious fashion. Dina Asher-Smith, third in Oslo, was second this time in 10.89, with Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith third in 11.00.
Two-time Olympic silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers, who retained her world indoor title in March, won the high jump ahead of Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh, as Olyslagers managed a first-time clearance of 2.01m – a height Mahuchikh could not match.
Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Georgia Hunter-Bell, who was last in the 800m with 300 metres remaining, timed her final surge to perfection to take victory in 1:57.66 from world champion Mary Moraa, who clocked 1:57.83 ahead of Prudence Sekgodiso in 1:58.00.
The women’s 3000m saw a gutsy win from Australia’s Linden Hall, who held off the enduring challenge of Sarah Chelangat to win in a personal best of 8:30.01. The Ugandan clocked 8:31.27 ahead of Britain’s 19-year-old European U20 cross country champion Innes FitzGerald, who was rewarded for a canny race with a huge personal best of 8:32.90.
Slovenia’s Kristjan Ceh earned victory in the men’s discus with 69.73m from Sweden’s two-time Olympic champion Daniel Stahl, who came within 20cm of the winning mark through his final effort.
Cuba’s Reynier Mena followed up his 200m victory in Oslo with another in a season’s best of 20.05. Isabella Whittaker of the United States won the women’s 400m in 49.78, with Norway’s Henriette Jaeger second in 50.07.
The women’s pole vault was held the day before the main meeting and was won by Sandi Morris with a clearance of 4.82m.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
