World and Olympic pole vault champion Armand Duplantis improved his world record with a leap of 6.23 meters at the Diamond League finals on Sunday, as Gudaf Tsegay shattered the women’s 5,000-meter world record.
Swedish superstar Duplantis added a centimeter to the world record of 6.22 meters he recorded in France in February.
He has now re-set the world record seven times. Five of those marks were set indoors, with both of his outdoor world marks coming at Hayward Field in Eugene, where he won the world title last year.
“I’m two for two right now on world records coming here to Hayward,” Duplantis said. It has absolutely everything. It has the history, it has the modern touch. The track is really fast, the crowd and energy is fantastic.”
Duplantis retained his world title in Budapest last month with a clearance of 6.10 meters and cleared 6.12 in Ostrava in June.
He’d failed in a string of attempts at 6.23 since February, including at Brussels last weekend, but said the smaller field in the finals was more conducive to a record attempt
“I think that it’s a lot easier to be fresh at that world record height,” he said.
Duplantis had already secured victory with a height of 6.02 — the 73rd clearance of his career of more than six meters.
In his first effort at 6.23, with the crowd chanting, he raced up the runway and sailed over.
“I just try to jump high,” said Duplantis, who believes he can continue to improve the record.
“The limit is very high, and I hope that I can continue to jump well and keep jumping higher than I did today.”
Ethiopia’s Tsegay had electrified the crowd with her spectacular 5,000-meter win in 14 minutes 00.21 second.
The reigning 10,000-meter world champion carved almost five seconds off the previous 5,000-meter record of 14:05.20, set by Kenyan Faith Kipyegon in Paris on 9 June.
Kenyan Beatrice Chebet was second to Tsegay in 14:05.92, the third-fastest time ever.
“My focus today was the world record,” said Tsegay, who won the 2022 5,000-meter world title in Eugene and was disappointed with a 13th place finish in that event in Budapest that left her “very hungry in my mind.”
Jackson sprint double
Shericka Jackson couldn’t break Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 35-year-old 200m world record, but the Jamaican’s 21.57 seconds was enough to complete a sprint double after her 100m victory on Saturday.
Jackson concluded a season that included a 200m world title and the second-fastest time ever of 21.41.
Sunday’s time was the eighth-fastest ever — and of those eight Jackson owns five and will be poised to renew her pursuit of Griffith-Joyner’s record of 21.34 from 1988 in 2024.
“The end of the season,” Jackson said. “I’m healthy and I ran some fast times, so I’m definitely grateful.”
Marie-Josee Ta Lou of Ivory Coast finished second in 22.10 and Anthonique Strachan of the Bahamas placed third in 22.16.
Canadian Andre de Grasse won the men’s 200 meters in 19.76 seconds. Kenneth Bednarek was second in 19.95 and Erriyon Knighton third in 19.97.
Emmanuel Wanyonyi clocked a world-leading 1 minute 42.80 seconds to edge Marco Arop — the man who beat him to World Championships gold last month — in the 800 meters.
It marked the second time in two weeks that Kenya’s Wanyonyi had gotten the better of the Canadian world champion after his victory at Xiamen on 2 September in a then world-leading 1:43.20.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh edged Nicola Olyslagers in the women’s high jump, both clearing 2.03 meters to improve on the world lead of 2.02 they shared coming into the meeting.
Tokyo Olympic champion Hansle Parchment of Jamaica pulled away late to beat world champion Grant Holloway in the 110-meter hurdles in a world-leading 12.93 seconds.
Olympic champion Athing Mu, who settled for bronze in Brussels, won an 800m thriller in an American record of 1:54.97.
Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson was second in a British record of 1:55.19 and Natoya Goule-Toppin was third in a Jamaican record of 1:55.92.
World champion Mary Moraa, undone by the fast early pace, finished fourth.
Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen followed up his sensational 3:43.73 mile on Saturday with a victory in the 3,000 meters, leaning to beat Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha at the tape in a European record 7:23.63.
