NANJING, CHINA: Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis was the headline act as a trio of modern-day track and field greats starred on an electrifying night of action at the world indoor championships in Nanjing on Saturday.
Duplantis was pushed all the way by Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis in a battle royale before bagging a third world indoor pole vault gold with a best of 6.15m.
“We put on a good show for everybody,” said Duplantis. “It’s great to be pushed and I’m happy for Manolo (Karalis). I had to grind for it tonight.
“It’s good for me especially and it’s just great competition. It’s just such a higher level than what pole vault’s ever been, so it’s good. You just have to want it.”
It was a truly pulsating competition, echoed in the men’s 3,000m won by a hair’s breadth by Norway’s multi-medalled Jakob Ingebrigtsen, incredibly for his first world indoor title.
The victory kept alive his tilt at a first world indoor 1,500/3,000m double since Ethiopian legend Haile Gebreselassie achieved the feat in 1999. The 1,500m final is scheduled for 1215 GMT on Sunday.
“My competitors study me, but you have to race many times to be able to respond in all scenarios,” said Ingebrigtsen, who pipped Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi at the line in a dramatic, fast-finishing race.
“I’ve done a lot of racing but I’m not perfect. It’s all about learning. The more you race, the more you learn, so you can make the right decisions at the right point to increase the possibility of winning.
“I don’t enjoy the 1,500m warm-up, but the racing is a lot of fun, and that’s what I’m going to do tomorrow — have a lot of fun!“
The third of the stellar trio on show was Grant Holloway, the American claiming an unprecedented third successive 60m hurdles victory that extended his indoor win streak to 94 races dating back a remarkable 11 years to when he was 16 years old.
“This one was a little bit different,” said Holloway. “I didn’t have two great rounds and had to rely on my experience to get me through the final. But I knew what I had to do, I knew what I was missing.”
“Epic showdowns on the banks of the Yangtze River” was one of the slogans brandished around Nanjing’s Cube.
And so it proved to be as Duplantis battled Karalis, Ingebrigtsen elbowed it out with Aregawi, and Holloway saw off Wilhem Belocian, the three winners handing out master classes in the art of holding your nerve when the pressure ramps up.
There were five other golds up for grabs in the Chinese city.
Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji produced a savage dip to regain the 60m crown she last won in Belgrade in 2022, clocking 7.04sec to see off Italy’s European champion Zaynab Dosso by two-hundredths of a second.
“Every win is always good for the confidence,” the Swiss racer said.
“It shows me that we’re doing a lot of things right because not every year is the same. You can’t just take one recipe and do it every year.
“You always have to adapt on how you feel, so I’m really happy to see that my coach can feel what I need, and we can do what’s optimal for me.”
Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu won the women’s 3,000m in 8:37.21, American Shelby Houlihan — just two months after returning from a four-year doping ban — edging Austrian Jessica Hull for silver by two-hundredths.
There was a Cuban 1-2 in the women’s triple jump, Leyanis Perez Hernandez taking gold with a first-effort 14.93m ahead of Liadagmis Povea and Spain’s Ana Peleteiro-Compaore.
Amber Anning ensured a first British gold in the women’s 400m by edging American Alexis Holmes by three-hundredths for the win in 50.60sec, Norway’s Henriette Jaeger taking bronze.
The US men made up for Holmes’ silver by sweeping the men’s 400m, Christopher Bailey winning in 45.08sec ahead of Brian Faust and Jacory Patterson.
