Sweden's Armand Duplantis breaks pole vault world record at Diamond League Xiamen
- Published
'On top of the world!' - Sweden's Duplantis beats his own record in men's pole vault
Sweden's Armand Duplantis broke his own men's pole vault world record in the opening Diamond League meeting of the season in Xiamen, China.
Duplantis, 24, cleared 6.24m, one centimetre above the mark he set in last September's Diamond League final.
It was the eighth time the reigning Olympic and world champion has broken the outdoor world record.
The US-born athlete is aiming to win a second Olympic gold at the Paris Games this summer.
Duplantis, whose stunning start to the outdoor track and field programme followed a second world indoor title in March, said it was "exciting to get my season going".
He entered the competition in Xiamen at 5.62m and also cleared 5.82m and 6.00m before being roared on by the crowd at the Egret Stadium to set a new world mark at his first attempt.
American Sam Kendricks finished second with 5.82, while China's Bokai Huang was third with 5.72.
He's got "God's hand on his back" said Kendricks of Duplantis, and added: "I've seen him from a 14-year-old come all the way up and it makes me actually ever joyous to be even just second place behind the world record holder because I know he works so darned hard.
"He goes all over the place and he's becoming the true champion we all want him to be."
Armand Duplantis broke the men's pole vault world record for the first time in February 2020, when he cleared 6.17m
Lewis shocks Richardson in 200m
Elsewhere, Australian teenager Torrie Lewis shocked world 100m champion Sha'Carri Richardson in the women's 200m.
American Richardson, who took 200m bronze at the World Championships in Budapest last year, thought she had done enough to edge it in a blanket finish.
But 19-year-old Lewis ghosted through in lane nine to clinch victory by three hundredths of second, winning in 22.96 seconds. America's Tamara Clark was third in 23.01.
Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay, the reigning Olympic women's 10,000m champion, produced the third-fastest time ever in the 1500m, clocking 3:50.30 to win, with compatriots Birke Haylom and Worknesh Mesele finishing well back in second and third.
Women's world 400m champion Marileidy Paulino got the season under way with victory in the first event on the track. The 27-year-old, from the Dominican Republic, slowed in the closing stages but eased over the line in 50.08 seconds, ahead of Poland's Natalia Kaczmarek, with the United States' Britton Wilson in third.
Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn overcame a poor start to edge a thrilling women's 100m hurdles, timing her charge to the line to perfection to win in 12.45 seconds, ahead of Bahamas' Devynne Charlton by four hundredths of a second.
Canada's Marco Arop won the men's 800m in 1:43.61, pipping Kenya's Wycliffe Kinyamal by just five hundredths, while Great Britain's Ethan Hussey was 10th.
Ethiopia's Lamecha Girma, Olympic silver medallist in the 3,000m steeplechase, won the men's 5,000m, dipping under 13 minutes to finish in 12:58.96 in his first completed elite race at the distance.
The night ended with victory for world 60m indoor champion Christian Coleman in the men's 100m, as he pulled away in the middle part of the race to win in 10.13secs, ahead of American team-mate Fred Kerley and Jamaica's Ackeem Blake.