Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Mondo Duplantis set world records at Silesia Diamond League meet
The Norwegian middle-distance superstar breaks the nearly 30-year-old record on an afternoon of milestones at the Silesia Diamond League meeting in Poland on Sunday (25 August).
Athletics
Swedish high-flyer Mondo Duplantis capped a thrilling afternoon of world class athletics at Silesia Diamond League meeting in Poland on Sunday (25 August).
The two-time Olympic pole vault champion added one centimetre to the world record he set at Paris 2024 with a vault of 6.26m.
Middle-distance superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen also set the track alight as he stormed into the history books with a world record in the men’s 3,000m.
Ingebrigtsen chopped nearly four seconds off the previous mark Kenya’s Daniel Komen set back in 1996.
As the race over the seven-and-a-half laps wound down it seemed inevitable that Ingebrigtsen was on his way to posting a special time. Ingebrigtsen came into the final straight running on his own in front with Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi metres behind.
The 23-year-old crossed the line before he grabbed his head in disbelief as he glanced at the clock flashing a time of seven minutes, 17.55 (7:17.55).
Aregawi finished three seconds behind him in a national record of 7:21.28 with countryman Yomif Kejelcha rounding out the podium in 7:28.44.
“It feels special, amazing! I was hoping to challenge the world record here, but based on my training, I can never predict exactly what kind of time I am capable of,” Ingebrigtsen said after his record-breaking run.
“I would not have imagined I could run 7:17, though. At the beginning, the pace felt really fast, but then I started to feel my way into the race and found a good rhythm. Now I want to challenge world records at all distances, but it is one step at a time.”
The men’s 800m also delivered fireworks with Canada’s Marco Arop effecting revenge on Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi thanks to a dominant victory in the two-lap event.
Wanyonyi finished ahead of Arop in the final in Paris 2024 before unleashing the fourth fastest time ever in Lausanne on 22 August.
Arop took control early on in the race and by the time he came into the home stretch he had built an unassailable lead crossing the line in a meeting record of 1:41.86. Wanyonyi finished second in 1:43.23.
Dutch hurdles sensation Femke Bol collected another meeting record finishing the 400m barrier race strong in a time of 52.13s. Bol raced conservatively over the first half of the race and put the hammer down in the closing stages to beat Olympic silver medallist Anna Cockrell to the line. Cockrell finished second in 52.88s with Rushell Clayton following in third place clocking 53.11s.
Bol has bounced back from her loss at Paris 2024 where she won bronze behind Cockrell and two-time champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
Joe Kovacs reversed fortunes beating three-time Olympic champion Ryan Crouser to the top of the podium in the men’s shot put with a best heave of 22.14 metres. Kovacs played second fiddle to Crouser for a third consecutive time in Paris 2024.
Crouser had to settle with silver with a best effort of 22.12m as Leonardo Fabbri (22.03m) of Italy rounded out the podium behind the two Americans.