Mondo Duplantis breaks pole vault world record for 14th time

Mondo Duplantis lit up the third night of the Tokyo world championships when he broke the pole vault world record for the 14th time with a jump of 6.30m after securing a third consecutive world title on Monday.

The gold medal was already in the bag and all the other events finished when the American-born Swede had the bar raised a centimetre higher than the record height of 6.29m he managed in Budapest last month.

He failed by the narrowest of margins at his first two attempts but, roared on by a packed house at the National Stadium, slid over on the third with the bar giving a slight wobble before settling.

The stadium exploded as the 25-year-old raced over to celebrate with his family in the crowd before being mobbed by his delighted rivals.

“I am so happy, I cannot explain it,” Duplantis said. “For the past two weeks I really enjoyed being in Tokyo. I have been enjoying everything so much. I felt the only way to leave Japan was to set the world record.

“That was my mentality. I don’t know what is next for me at this moment, I don’t care. I will just enjoy this right now.”

The atmosphere was a stark contrast with the scenes at the same arena four years ago when Duplantis won the first of his two Olympic titles with the Tokyo public locked out because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Seven of the 12 vaulters cleared 5.90m in an unusually strong competition but the contest, such as it was, soon came down to Duplantis and Greek Emmanouil Karalis.

Karalis, bronze medallist behind Duplantis at the Paris Olympics, secured the silver medal with a jump of 6m but failed at 6.10m, 6.15m and 6.20m as he tried to put some pressure on the reigning champion.

Duplantis sailed over at 6.10m and 6.15m and then gave the crowd and athletics world what it wanted with his fourth world record jump of the season.

“I was feeling really good the whole day,” Duplantis added. “I knew I had the record in me. If I have the right runway, I know that everything is possible.

“The run says it all, everything is about speed. As long as I have that right, I know it will work out for me.”

Australian Kurtis Marschall matched his personal best with a jump of 5.95m to win a second world bronze medal after sharing third place with American Chris Nilsen in Budapest two years ago.

Also on Monday, Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji stunned a stellar field and herself by winning the women’s 100m hurdles in a national record time of 12.24 seconds.

The 23-year-old, whose previous personal best was 12.40, clasped her face in disbelief after flashing over the 10 hurdles and crossing the line to become the joint-seventh fastest woman of all time in the event.

“It’s crazy,” said Kambundji. “I was giving my all. I tried to focus on myself. I was calm and pretty collected. I knew I had it in me.

“You could see on my face how happy I was when I realised I won. I was surprised because I knew all my competitors were able to win. Getting a personal best is nice but all that mattered today was the title.”

World record holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, the world champion in 2022, took silver in 12.29 and American Grace Stark won bronze in 12.34.

New Zealand’s Geordie Beamish claimed a stunning gold in the 3,000m steeplechase when he dipped to defeat a shocked Soufiane El Bakkali on the line and denied the Moroccan a fifth successive global title.

El Bakkali, a double Olympic and world champion, seemed on course for the hat-trick when he hit the front at the bell and after surging clear seemed to think he had it in the bag.

Beamish, however, famed for his late kick, had other ideas and pushed on to snatch it on the line in eight minutes 33.88 seconds, beating the champion by seven hundredths of a second.

It completed a remarkable week for the Kiwi after he fell with only a lap to go in his heat, getting stamped on the head in the process, but recovered to qualify. Seventeen-year-old Kenyan Edmund Serum took a brilliant bronze in 8:34.56.

Canada’s Olympic champion Camryn Rogers became a double hammer world champion in devastating fashion as she established herself as the second-longest thrower yet with a second-round effort of 80.51m.

Rogers came into the competition as the hot favourite and duly opened proceedings with 78.09m — longer than her leading throw in qualifying. She then stamped her authority all over the field and the event with her second of 80.51m.

It was an almost 2m improvement on her personal best of 78.88m and put her second on the all-time list behind Poland’s world record holder Anita Włodarczyk, who has a best of 82.98m set nine years ago.

Another effort of 78.27m and a finish of 79.11m for fun merely underlined Rogers’ dominance.

China took silver through Zhao Jie, with a personal best of 77.60m on her final throw after 18-year-old Zhang Jiale had briefly gone ahead of her with her last throw of 77.10m, but had to settle for bronze.

Reuters