Wild scenes as pole vault superstar Armand Duplantis breaks world record again

7NEWS

12 hours ago

High jumper Nicola Olyslagers and 3000m runner Linden Hall made it a special day for Australian athletics at the Stockholm Diamond League meet, but they were still mere support acts to another world-record show-stopper from the incredible Armand Duplantis.
Pole vaulter supreme 'Mondo' wowed his home fans in the Swedish capital's venerable Olympic Stadium on Sunday by soaring to 6.28 metres — the 12th time the 25-year-old has set a fresh landmark.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Armand Duplantis breaks world record again.
The double Olympic champ improved his previous mark, set in February, by one centimetre on his first attempt.
Australian Kurtis Marschall had to settle for second with a 5.90m vault before his great pal Duplantis cleared 6.00m and set the stage for his record-busting vault, making the new landmark look preposterously easy.
'Mondo' sprinted away from the landing mat in ecstasy, tore off his vest to celebrate his first ever world record on Swedish soil and declared: 'This was one of my biggest goals and dreams, to set a world record here.'
Of his landmark leap, he added: '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.'
He reckoned he would celebrate with a night on the town in Stockholm with the visiting sprint king Usain Bolt, who was watching from the stands.
Earlier, Paris silver medallist Olyslagers had outjumped her Olympic conqueror Yaroslava Mahuchikh with an equal season's-best 2.01m leap to the Ukrainian star's 1.99m.
Olyslagers' domestic rival Eleanor Patterson was joint-fourth with a 1.91m effort.
'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, the 33-year-old Victorian veteran 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,' beamed Hall.
'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 other Australians ended on the podium, with Queenslander Ky 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, and Matthew Denny's 68.14m throw earning him bronze in the discus.