As if the second day of the Diamond League final wasn’t spectacular enough, Mondo Duplantis gave the meeting its second world record with a 6.23m clearance in the pole vault.
With the competition wrapped up with a 6.02m jump, Duplantis enjoyed a first-time clearance at 6.23m before celebrating wildly in what is clearly one of his favourite venues.
It is little over a year, after all, since he set a world record of 6.21m to win the world title here, although he subsequently improved the mark to 6.22m indoors in France in February.
“The limit is very high and I hope that I can continue to jump well and keep jumping higher than I did today,” said Duplantis, “but for now I’m not really thinking about anything except enjoying this moment and enjoying what I just did.
“For me, I just try to jump high. I love pole vaulting so much and I’ve loved it ever since I was just a little kid. If I’m able to take pole vaulting to another level and I can get as many eyes as possible watching it by jumping really high and doing some cool things, then that’s a job well done by me.”
Similar to the first day of these Diamond League finals, there was little sign of end-of-season fatigue with a number of world leading performances. The women’s high jumpers were among those excelling as Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine and Nicola Olyslagers of Australia jumped a world lead of 2.03m.
Mahuchikh won the Diamond Trophy on countback but Olyslagers had the consolation of an Oceania record as rising star Angelina Topic placed third with 1.95m and Britain’s Morgan Lake fifth equal with 1.91m.
Another world lead came in the 110m hurdles with Olympic champion Hansle Parchment of Jamaica clocking 12.93 (0.9) as world champion Grant Holloway of the United States was runner-up with 13.06.
Matt Denny enjoyed a surprise win in the men’s discus with an Australian record of 68.43m in the final round to beat Kristjan Ceh of Slovenia and world champion Daniel Stahl of Sweden as Britain’s Lawrence Okoye was fifth with 65.23m.
Joe Kovacs produced another big surprise as the two-day meeting drew to a close when he threw 22.93m in the shot put to beat world record-holder Ryan Crouser (22.91m) and Tom Walsh (22.69m).
2023 Diamond League final winners – day two
Men
200m: Andre De Grasse (CAN) 19.76 (0.6)
800m: Emmanuel Wanyonyi (KEN) 1:42.80
3000m: Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) 7:23.63
110m hurdles: Hansle Parchment 12.93 (0.9)
Pole vault: Mondo Duplantis (SWE) 6.23m WR
Long jump: Simon Ehammer (SUI) 8.22m (0.0)
Shot put: Joe Kovacs (USA) 22.93m
Discus: Matt Denny (AUS) 68.43m
Women
200m: Shericka Jackson (JAM) 21.57 (0.3)
400m: Marileidy Paulino (DOM) 49.58.
800m: Athing Mu (USA) 1:54.97
5000m: Gudaf Tsegay (ETH) 14:00.21 WR
100m hurdles: Tobi Abusan (NGR) 12.33 (1.8)
400m hurdles: Femke Bol (NED) 51.98
High jump: Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR) 2.03m
Long jump: Ivana Vuleta (SRB) 6.85m (0.2)
Discus: Valarie Allman (USA) 68.66m
Source: AW
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