Just as the 2023 campaign ended in Eugene, the 2024 Wanda Diamond League season opened in Xiamen with Mondo Duplantis taking the world record for men's pole vault to new heights.
At the Diamond League finals in Oregon last September, the incomparable Swede soared to 6.23 meters, setting his seventh world record. On Saturday (20th) in Xiamen, during his first visit to China, the 24-year-old Olympic, World Outdoor and World Indoor Champion successfully shot over 6.24 meters* on his first attempt at the start of an outdoor competition. Even I was surprised. There are still more than three months left in the season leading up to the Paris Olympics.
Asked if he had an eighth world record in mind, Duplantis said: “I'm not really thinking about it.” But then the rider said disappointment at not being able to break 6.05 meters (the height at which he held the world indoor title in Glasgow last month) during the indoor season led him to head into the wilderness for personal reasons. Told. prove
“The indoor season was a lot more sloppy than I expected, so I had a fire inside me today,” Duplantis confessed. “He wanted to show what he could do.”
he did it. Following Torun, Glasgow, Belgrade (twice), Eugene (twice) and Clermont-Ferrand, he added Xiamen to his expanding global footprint.
After first successes at 5.62m, 5.82m and 6.00m, Duplantis raised the bar straight to 6.24m, seven centimeters higher than his first world record height in Torun four years ago.
“Conditions were good and there was great energy from the crowd,” he said. “The 6m jump felt really smooth and I thought I could reach 6.24m.
“I was trying to do my best jump, and that's what happened. I think there's still a lot more height within me.”
Only once before has he opened an outdoor season with a 6m clearance, with a 6.02m success at the 2022 Doha Diamond League competition.
His points difference in Xiamen was 42cm, with two-time world champion Sam Kendricks of the United States second with 5.82m and China's Fan Bokai third with 5.72m.
On the track, Gudav Tsegay also picked up where he left off at the end of the outdoor season. Or something like that.
The Ethiopian athlete, who won the world 10,000m title in Budapest last August, fell short of the world record he set in the 5,000m at the Diamond League finals, but was the third fastest outdoor 1,500m in history. He emphasized the breadth of his talent.
Gudav Tsegay celebrates his 1500m run in Xiamen (© Matthew Quine / Diamond League AG)
Fresh off losing to American Elle St-Pierre in the 3000m final at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Tsegay was the first woman with a point to prove when she pulled away from her 18-year-old training partner Birke Heyrom. It looked like. With 300 meters left, she reached home in 3:50.30.
With this, the indoor 1500m world record holder moved from 9th to 3rd place on the outdoor world record list, improving his previous personal best by 2.79. Only her rival, Kenyan Faith Kipyegon (3:49.11) and her compatriot Genzebe Dibaba (3:49.11) were faster. “It was my first outdoor race of the season and it was a big surprise for me,” Tsegay confessed.
Behind Tsegay's personal best, world top and tournament record, eight other female athletes ran within four minutes. The brave Hayrom improved her own lifetime best from 3:54.93 to 3:53.22. This was clearly two seconds better than fellow Ethiopian Worknesh Mesele (3:57.61) and 2023 World silver medalist Diribe Weltezi (3:57.62).
Next up was Ethiopia's world indoor 1500m champion Fleweni Heil, who took fifth place in 3:58.18, followed by Georgia's Georgia Griffiths (3:59.04), Ethiopia's Habitum Aremu (3:59.06) and Saron Berge. (3:59.06) followed by four new members of the sub-4 club. :59.21) and Sarah Billings (3:59.59), also from Australia.
On his third attempt, Ramecha Girma was not only able to complete the 5000 meter race, but he did it within 13 minutes.
In his most recent attempt at the 2023 Diamond League competition in Zurich, the 3000m steeplechase world record holder withdrew with two laps remaining. This time he conserved his strength for the final two laps, and when the 2022 World U20 Champion took the lead with 650 meters to go, he chased fellow Ethiopian Addis Ifune and overtook him with 300 meters to go.
Girma won by a landslide with a time of 12:58.96, followed by 2022 Diamond League champion Nicholas Kipkorir of Kenya in second place with a time of 12:59.78 and Bahrain's Birhanu Baleu third with a time of 13:00.47.
World record holder Beatriz Chepkoech showed an overwhelming performance in the women's 3,000 meter steeplechase, winning in 8:55.40, the 11th fastest time in history.
Kenyan teammate Faith Chelotich, who won the world bronze medal after Chepkoech's silver in Budapest last August, was second with a time of 9:05.49, followed by Olympic champion Perut Chemutai of Uganda with a time of 9:12.99. He took 3rd place.
Australian teenager Torrey Lewis equaled the slowest lifetime best in the women's 200m with a time of 22.94 seconds, but delivered a shock win with her first Diamond League win and a notable scalp.
Torrey Lewis wins the 200m in Xiamen (© Matthew Quine / Diamond League AG)
The 19-year-old won in 22.96 seconds (-0.4m/s) after being pulled in lane 9, and 100m world champion and 200m bronze medalist Shakari Richardson moved into second place with a time of 22.99 seconds. Fellow American sprinters Tamara Clark (23.02) and Annavia Battle (23.02).
“Honestly, I didn't realize I had won until I saw the replay,” Lewis said.
Canada's Marco Arup had to dig deep and show his world champion pedigree to outdo Kenya's Wycliffe Kinyamalu in the men's 800m home straight battle. Arup's achievement was to take the world lead with a time of 1 minute 43.61 seconds, with Kinyamalu 0.05 seconds behind in second place, and Botswana's Tshepiso Maslera in third place with a personal record time of 1 minute 43.88 seconds.
Daniel Roberts, the 2023 World Championship bronze medalist, is also the world leader in the men's 110m hurdles with a time of 13.11 seconds (-0.3) ahead of American compatriot Cordell Tinch (13.16 seconds) and Japan's Shunsuke Izumitani (13.17 seconds). won by suppressing the Jamaican Olympic champion Hansle Parchment finished sixth in 13.33 seconds.
Olympic champion Jasmine Camachoquin (Puerto Rico) beats the women's 100m hurdles in 12.45 seconds (0.2 seconds), beating world indoor 60m hurdles champion and world record holder Devin Charlton (Bahamas) by 0.01 seconds. Achieved an even better result.
2022 World Indoor Champion Sirena Samba-Mayela took third place with a French record time of 12.55 seconds, ahead of the two recent outdoor world champions Jamaica's Daniel Williams (12.56 seconds) and Nigeria's Tobi Amusan. (12.58 seconds) placed 4th and 5th respectively.
The opening track race, the women's 400m, was a repeat of the one-two from last year's world finals in Budapest, with Mariledi Paulino of the Dominican Republic (50.08 seconds) competing against Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek (50.29 seconds). proved too strong.
In the final race on the track, men's 100m and indoor 60m world champion Christian Coleman dominated 2022 world champion Fred Curley in the 100m, beating his compatriot's 10.17 seconds with a time of 10.13 seconds (-0.6). I recorded my time. World indoor bronze medalist Hakeem Blake took third place with a time of 10.20 seconds.
Olympic champion Mutaz Barsim showed signs of rust in the men's high jump. That's no surprise given the fact that the 32-year-old Qatari took part in his first tournament after a six-month break due to back and hip problems.
The three-time world champion made his first clears at 2.15m, 2.20m and 2.24m, but then hit a brick wall and failed to get over 2.27m and 2.29m.
World indoor silver medalist Shelby McEwen was the only man to succeed at 2.27 meters. This first clear was enough for the American jumper to hold off Barsim for the win, with New Zealand's world indoor champion Hamish Kerr also third at 2.24m.
Portugal's Olympic triple jump champion Pedro Pichardo returned to his winning style after an injury-induced hiatus and secured victory with a new tournament record of 17.51 meters over world champion Hugues Fabrice Xango (Burkina Faso) (17.12 meters). . Su Wen jumped 16.82 meters to win China's battle for third place, followed by Fang Yaoqing in fourth place with 16.73 meters and Olympic silver medalist Zhu Yaming in fifth place (16.55 meters).
In the women's shot put, China's Qian Lijiao was the popular winner. The Olympic champion and two-time world champion's best effort of 19.72 meters came in the second round.
World champion Chase Jackson (USA) came closest to her with 19.62m, but on the final throw, Madison-Lee Wesch took second place with a personal best of 19.63m on the day she was confirmed to be on the New Zealand Olympic team. Canada's world indoor champion Sarah Mitton had to settle for fourth place with 19.35m.
Olympic champion Valarie Allman (USA) won the women's discus throw with a new tournament record of 69.80 meters. Cuba's Yaime Perez had to settle for second place with 68.33 meters, one week after her stunning 73.09 meters in Oklahoma, which broke Allman's North American record. 2022 world champion Feng Bing (China) took third place with 67.07 meters.
In the women's javelin throw outside of the Diamond League, there was only one throw over 60 meters, and Dai Qianqian won at home with a throw of 61.25 meters in the fourth round. Latvia's Lina Muze Sirma took second place with 58.91m, and 2023 World silver medalist Flor Luis Hurtado of Colombia took third with 58.50m.
world athletics champion simon turnbull
*Subject to normal ratification procedures