Home hero Armand Duplantis delights Stockholm with new pole vault world record
Sweden's Armand Duplantis soared 6.28 metres to break the world pole vault record at the Diamond League event in Stockholm on Sunday, the 12th time he has set a new world-best mark.
The American-born double Olympic champion improved on his previous record, set in February, by one centimetre on his first attempt, making the most of the perfect conditions to delight the home crowd.
Having promised fans ahead of the competition that he would try to break the record, Duplantis encouraged the crowd to get behind him from the moment his name was announced at the Swedish capital's Olympic stadium and they responded by wildly clapping and cheering his every attempt as he cruised through the competition.
Kurtis Marschall did his best to challenge the hometown favourite, but the Australian could only manage a best effort of 5.90 before making three unsuccessful attempts to clear the six-metre mark.
That left the field clear for Duplantis as the bar was raised to 6.28 for his world record attempt, and once again, the 25-year-old made it look easy.
He powered through his run-up before planting his pole and soaring to another world record as the stadium, built for the 1912 Olympics, exploded in jubilation.
Duplantis sprinted from the landing mat, tearing off his singlet to celebrate his first world record set on Swedish soil with his partner and family.
"This was one of my biggest goals and dreams, to set a world record here at Stadion. It's like the Olympics and Stadion, they're the same level for me. I really wanted to do it, I had my whole family here, from both sides, it's magic, it's magic,' he said.
"Every time I broke the world record, I felt it in my first jump that 'this could be the day', but today it felt a little tougher. It didn't feel that natural from the beginning, it didn't feel great in my legs, but I only needed one (try)," an emotional Duplantis added.
Despite the confident impression he gave as he sailed over the bar, Duplantis said he was not convinced he had cleared it until his back hit the mat.
"I almost couldn't believe it, it felt like the very first time I broke the record. For me, I'm still a little hazy in my mind, 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," he said.
Elsewhere, Great Britain's Georgia Hunter-Bell, the 1500m bronze medallist at Paris last summer, surged down the last 50 to win the women's 800 in 1:57:66.
She had to take the long route to the finish line in lane three, but had too much power for Kenya's 2023 world champion Mary Moraa and South Africa's Prudence Sekgodiso. Fellow Briton Jemma Reekie also ran a season's best time to finish fifth in 1:58:66.
Dina Asher-Smith clocked 10.93 to finish second in the 100m behind Olympic champion Julien Alfred, who won in 10.75. Daryll Neita was fifth in 11.17.
World indoor champion Amber Anning finished third in the women's 400m, behind American Isabella Whittaker in a season's best 50.17.
Innes Fitzgerald and Hannah Nuttall ran respective personal best times of 8:32:90 and 8:33:82 to finish third and fourth in the women's 3,000m.
George Mills was fifth in the men's 1500m in a season best time of 3:32:67, and Alastair Chalmers was also fifth in the 400m hurdles.
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