Duplantis, 20, eclipses 1994 mark of 20-1.75 (6.14m) produced by Bubka, also in Italy; Uganda’s Kiplimo sets Diamond League record in men’s 3,000 and Jamaica’s Thompson-Herah runs fastest time of the year in women’s 100-meter dash

By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor

Even for an athlete who has already achieved the highest pole vault clearance at any venue in the history of the event, Armand “Mondo” Duplantis had felt an enormous weight the entire summer about breaking the outdoor world record.

The 20-year-old Swedish star had tried at five competitions during the past five weeks at surpassing Ukrainian legend Sergey Bubka to add the all-time outdoor mark to his world indoor record of 20 feet, 3.25 inches (6.18m) from February in Glasgow, Scotland.

“Everybody kept talking about it, it was a big chip on my shoulder and I feel I had to do it to have people stop asking me this question,” Duplantis told meet organizers at the Golden Gala, the annual Wanda Diamond League meeting in Rome.

Duplantis finally put the discussion to rest Thursday at the Olympic Stadium, clearing 20-2 (6.15m) on his second attempt to eclipse Bubka’s mark of 20-1.75 (6.14m) on July 31, 1994 in Sestriere Italy.

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“World record – finally. It is so cool. I wanted to get over 6.15m so badly,” Duplantis said. “It has been a long time coming. Coming into the season we did not know if we were able to do any competition at all. This World record is really unexpected and I am very grateful.

“When I did it, it was more relief than joy. My mom and dad were not here today. Usually one of them is with me. I am a bit disappointed about that. My dad has never been with me when I jumped a world record.”

When Duplantis missed Thursday on his first attempt at 20-2, it marked 14 consecutive unsuccessful tries at surpassing Bubka’s outdoor standard, including meets in Monaco, Stockholm, Lausanne, Brussels and Berlin.

Although Duplantis had cleared 20-3.25 and 20-2.75 (6.17m) during an eight-day stretch of indoor competitions in Poland and Scotland in February, he had missed six attempts at 20-3.75 (6.19m) at subsequent indoor meets in France.

After clearing 19-11 (6.07m) at a street vault competition Sept. 2 in Lausanne, Duplantis finally soared over 20 feet outdoors Thursday to join Bubka as the only athletes in history to surpass that height indoors and outdoors.

“A world record – well, I would not say that I am used to it,” Duplantis said. “It is crazy. It was a really strong competition for me, so long. In the last two jumps I found my rhythm again.”

Ben Broeders set the Belgian national record with a second-attempt clearance at 19-0.25 (5.80m) to place second, with Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines also clearing 19-0.25 on his third try.

Duplantis produced one of three world-leading marks, joining Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo in the men’s 3,000 meters and Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah in the women’s 100-meter dash.

Kiplimo surged past Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the final 50 meters to prevail in 7:26.64, elevating him to the No. 8 performer in history.

“I am over the moon. I did not expect such a great time, I thought that I could run around 7:30,” Kiplimo said. “The pacemaker was fantastic.”

Ingebrigtsen ran 7:27.05 to ascend to the No. 9 all-time competitor, both athletes running faster than the 2011 Diamond League record of 7:27.26 Ethiopia’s Yenew Alamirew set in Doha, Qatar.

Australia’s Stewart McSweyn finished third in 7:28.02, improving to the No. 17 all-time performer, with Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa clocking 7:38.27 to place fourth, as every member of the fast quartet produced national records.

Thompson-Herah, who had not raced since Aug. 22 in Kingston, ran a wind-legal 10.85 to edge fellow Jamaican Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce for the fastest time in the world. Fraser-Pryce ran 10.86 at the same Velocity Fest meet Aug. 22 in Kingston where Thompson-Herah clocked 10.92 in a separate race.

“I leave here with the world-leading time, I’m super excited,” Thompson-Herah said. “This tells me where I am at the end of this season, and tells me how I can prepare for next year. I am super excited. This year required more adjusting, and my goal was to push back and to motivate myself.”

Americans Aleia Hobbs (11.12) and Kayla White (11.27) placed second and sixth behind Thompson-Herah. Hobbs improved to the No. 7 outdoor performer in the world this season.

Norway’s Karsten Warholm continued his pursuit of the 400-meter hurdles world record, clocking 47.07 to give him four of the top 11 all-time performances in just the past five weeks. Warholm ran a world-leading 46.87, the second-fastest time in history, on Aug. 23 in Stockholm.

France’s Ludvy Vaillant (48.69) and Estonia’s Rasmus Magi (48.72) elevated to Nos. 2 and 3 in the world this year, with American David Kendziera ascending to the No. 9 global performer after finishing fourth in 49.35.

South Africa’s Akani Simbine produced the first sub-10 effort by any male sprinter since July 24, clocking 9.96 to prevail against Ivory Coast athlete Arthur Gue Cisse (10.04).

Simbine still ranks No. 3 on the global performance list this year with his 9.91 from March in Pretoria, with Cisse equaling the No. 9 competitor in the world this season.

It continued to be an exceptional summer on the track for the Dutch trio of Femke Bol, Lieke Klaver and Nadine Visser.

Visser and Bol swept the women’s hurdles, with Klaver elevating to No. 3 in the world this year with a personal-best 50.98 in the 400.

Visser clocked 12.72 in the 100 hurdles to prevail against Italy’s Luminosa Boglioli (12.83) and American Payton Chadwick (12.89). American Taliyah Brooks, a fellow ASICS athlete who trains in Arkansas with U.S. leader Chadwick, also ran a season-best 13.05 to finish fifth.

Visser ran 12.68 twice in a nine-day stretch in August in Poland and Hungary to achieve the world lead.

Bol clocked 53.90 in the 400 hurdles, her second-fastest performance trailing only her Dutch record and world-leading 53.79 that she ran July 18 in Arnhem.

Following the deepest women’s race since 2018 on Tuesday at the Hanzekovic Memorial in Croatia, only Scotland’s Jemma Reekie produced a sub-2 performance Thursday in Rome to prevail in 1:59.76.

Hedda Hynne, who ran a Norwegian record and world-leading 1:58.10 in Zagreb, was second in 2:00.24, followed by Scotland’s Laura Muir (2:00.49), Germany’s Christina Hering (2:00.75) and American Kaela Edwards (2:00.79).

Italy’s Edoardo Scotti edged Kuwait’s Yousef Karam by a 45.21 to 45.25 margin in the men’s 400 to ascend to the Nos. 5 and 6 outdoor performers in the world this year.

Great Britain’s Andrew Pozzi won the men’s 110-meter hurdles in 13.15, ahead of Americans Aaron Mallett (13.23) and Freddie Crittenden III (13.31). Pozzi still ranks No. 2 in the world this year at 13.14.

Ukraine swept the men’s and women’s high jump, with Andriy Protsenko clearing 7-6.50 (2.30m) on his first attempt and Yuliya Levchenko successfully getting over the bar at 6-6 (1.98m) on her first try.

Nick Ponzio won his Diamond League debut in the men’s shot put with a second-round mark of 69-2.50 (21.09m), ahead of fellow American Payton Otterdahl and his third-round effort of 68-5 (20.85).

Ponzio, whose parents are from Italy, has expressed interest in changing his international eligibility since the men’s shot put is so deep in the United States, as evidenced by Joe Kovacs and Ryan Crouser taking the top two spots at last year’s World Championships and Darrell Hill finishing fifth.

Crouser and Kovacs also took the top two spots at a special shot put competition Thursday in Belgrade, Serbia.