EUGENE, OREGON: World and Olympic pole vault champion Armand Duplantis improved his world record with a leap of 6.23m at the Diamond League finals on Sunday, as Gudaf Tsegay shattered the women’s 5,000m world record.
Swedish superstar Duplantis added a centimeter to the world record of 6.22m he recorded in France in February.
He has now reset 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, Oregon.
“I’m two for two right now on world records coming here to Hayward,” Duplantis said after clearing the world record height on his first attempt.
“I think it’s just a combination of everything — 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 6.10m and cleared 6.12 in Ostrava in June.
But 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
“It’s a lot shorter competition and 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.
“But for now I’m not really thinking about anything except enjoying this moment and enjoying what I just did.”
Ethiopia’s Tsegay had electrified the crowd with her spectacular 5,000m win in 14min 00.21sec.
The reigning 10,000m world champion carved almost five seconds off the previous 5,000m record of 14:05.20, set by Kenyan Faith Kipyegon in Paris on June 9.
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 5,000m 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.”
Shericka Jackson couldn’t break Florence Griffith-Joyner’s 35-year-old 200m world record, but the Jamaican’s 21.57sec 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.
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 200m in 19.76sec. Kenneth Bednarek was second in 19.95 and Erriyon Knighton thrid in 19.97.
Emmanuel Wanyonyi clocked a world-leading 1min 42.80sec to edge Marco Arop — the man who beat him to World Championships gold last month — in the 800m.
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 Sept. 2 in a then world-leading 1:43.20.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh edged Nicola Olyslagers in the women’s high jump, both clearing 2.03m to improve on the world lead of 2.02 they shared coming into the meeting.
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 mile triumph in 3:43.73 with another near record in the 3,000m, leaning to beat Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha at the tape in a European record 7:23.63.
