Athletics world blown away as Aussie takes down Olympic champ amid epic world record
Nicola Olyslagers capped off a special day for Australian athletics after taking down Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh to claim gold in the women's high jump at the Diamond League meet in Stockholm. But it was an incredible pole vault world record for local hero Armand Duplantis that stole the headlines and left the athletics world in a frenzy.
Olyslagers and 3000m runner Linden Hall both claimed gold on a wildly successful day for the Aussies in Sweden, with Kurtis Marschall, Matthew Denny and Ky Robinson also finishing on the podium. Paris silver medallist Olyslagers outjumped her Olympic conqueror Mahuchikh with an equal season's-best leap of 2.01m to claim gold. The Ukrainian star could only manage 1.99m as he finished second.
Aussie teammate rival Eleanor Patterson was joint-fourth with a 1.91m effort but it was Olyslagers left to savour her incredible victory as she went one better than the Paris Games silver last year. "That felt great, jumping out there in those conditions," Olyslagers said.
"I take great inspiration competing against other world-class high jumpers, and am managing the travel to and from Australia by allowing myself more time - and it is working." In the 3000m, 33-year-old Victorian Hall enjoyed the best win of her career as she knocked over five seconds off her personal best, battling home to clock 8min 30.01sec and oust Ugandan Sarah Chelengat by 1.26sec.
"I won a 1500 metres here a few years ago but hadn't won a Diamond League race before. I've finally got there so it's pretty cool," Hall said afterwards. "I hadn't started well but I got to the last 600 and thought 'I've got a little more in the legs'. This is my favourite Diamond League and now this only adds to that."
Two wins in 10 minutes at the Stockholm #DiamondLeague! 🥇 Nicola Olyslagers clears 2.01m on her first attempt to beat UKR's Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh. 🥇Linden Hall slashes more than 5s off her 3000m PB to take the win More to come. #AthleticNation pic.twitter.com/XCtdnobJvs
— Australian Athletics (@AustralianAths) June 15, 2025
In the last 10 minutes of the Stockholm🇸🇪 Diamond League 'Australia' has been front and centreFirst Marschall clears 5.80m on his first attemptThen there's a battle between Olyslagers & Mahuchikh, with Olyslagers getting the edge by clearing 2.01m on her firstAnd Hall then… pic.twitter.com/weqT0ic0Yz
— athsSTATS (@athsstats) June 15, 2025
Nicola Olyslagers clears 2.01m in the high jump ‼️A brilliant performance from the double Olympic high jump silver medallist as she beats a world class field in Stockholm 🇦🇺Reigning Olympic and world champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh was second with 1.99m 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/ERNGmIMP4M
— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) June 15, 2025
Three other Australians ended on the podium, with Queenslander Robinson finishing third in the men's 5000m in a lifetime best 12:58.38 behind Swedish winner Andreas Almgren's European record 12:44.27. While Denny's throw of 68.14m earned him bronze in the men's discus.
Aussie pole vaulter Kurtis Marschall delivered his best outdoor result of the season, clearing 5.90m on his second attempt to claim the silver medal. But it was the latest world record from Sweden's Olympic champion Duplantis, affectionately known as 'Mondo', that sent home fans into a spin.
Mondo soared to a staggering 6.28 metres to set a new world benchmark, marking the 12th time in his career that the 25-year-old phenom has set a new world record. The double Olympic champ improved his previous mark, set in February, by one centimetre on his first attempt.
The Swedish superstar sprinted away from the landing mat in ecstasy and tore off his vest to celebrate his first ever world record on Swedish soil. Duplantis showed what it meant to achieve the feat in front of his home fans after declaring: "This was one of my biggest goals and dreams, to set a world record here."
"I almost couldn't believe it, it felt like the very first time I broke the record. It feels unreal, I'm just so happy, it's a cloud nine feeling. It's hard to explain, it's hard to compare, it felt a bit like the Olympics. My grandma, she wanted me to promise yesterday that I would break the world record today - so I had a lot of pressure on me to do that in front of her, and I'm glad I could do it for her."
It's gonna take atleast a decade for anyone to be able to break his record 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
— Lorrenzo Diego (@lorrenzom) June 15, 2025
Mondo Duplantis keeps raising the bar with another world record in front of a proud home crowd absolute greatness 👏
— Sporcaster (@Sporcaster) June 15, 2025
Wow! How far will he go and will this record EVER be broken?
— Oscar (chukan.eth) (@chuka115) June 15, 2025
This is Mondo world, we just here to keep him company.
— ⚡️Fundi Wa Stima⚡️ (@Amj0seh) June 15, 2025
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Mondo Duplantis ‘full to the brim' after breaking pole vault world record for 12th time
Duplantis broke his own world record at the Stockholm Diamond League. -Mondo Duplantis broke the pole vault world record for the 12th time in his career in front of a delighted home crowd in Stockholm, Sweden. Duplantis cleared 6.28 meters on his first attempt to surpass his previous record by a centimeter, immediately running over to the stands to celebrate. Advertisement This was the first time that the 25-year-old had broken a world record in Sweden, saying afterwards that he felt 'full to the brim' with the 'special' achievement. 'I've got a lot of family here,' said Duplantis, who was raised in the United States but represents Sweden, his mother's native country. 'The first time I jumped in this stadium was when I was 11,' he added. 'It was rainy, cold, I jumped right under four meters. I still jumped quite high, actually, for how young I was.' Duplantis first broke the pole vault world record in 2020 and over the years has steadily raised his own history-making standards a centimeter at a time. Advertisement At Sunday's Diamond League meet, he had victory wrapped up with a first-time clearance of six meters, then put the bar straight up to 6.28m – well clear of his own meet record of 6.16m. Despite grazing the bar on the way up, Duplantis safely cleared the record height and raced over to the stands to celebrate with his fiancée. The two-time Olympic gold medalist is now unbeaten since July 2023, winning the Stockholm meet by 38 centimeters more than Australia's Kurtis Marschall in second. 'It gets a little bit tougher as it gets higher,' said Duplantis about the prospect of clearing 6.30m in the future. 'I'm just a perfect day away from it, technically and physically and everything like that.' For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at
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