Mondo Duplantis, Karsten Warholm win in Lievin; Lamecha Girma sets 3,000m world record

It was an up-and-down affair for three Tokyo 2020 athetics champions Wednesday (15 February) at the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais, held at Arena Stade Couvert in Lievin, France.

First, reigning world and Olympic pole vault champion Armand "Mondo" Duplantis of Sweden was victorious once again, taking the win with a height of 6.01m, which he cleared on his second attempt.

But, despite the victory, Duplantis was less than pleased with his overall performance.

"This didn’t feel good. It went not how I wanted and I can’t really explain why. My body just didn’t responded how I wanted. I felt a bit flat," he said afterward. "I love this place and it deserves a higher bar. I promise I will deliver it before I’m done."

Duplantis owns the world record of 6.21m, set at last year's World Championships.

Second place went to Italian Claudio Michel Stecchi (5.82). Australia's Kurtis Marschall finished third, also at 5.82, needing two attempts to clear it to Stecchi's one.

Then, Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy came up just .03 seconds short in the men's 60m final. Instead, it was Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala, the 100m Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who clocked a 6.54 time for the win to Jacobs' 6.57. Arthur Cisse was third at 6.59.

"When I come to race, I don't look at my competitors. But okay, it feels great that I can compete with the best in the world and even beat them," said Omanyala. "I knew I had it in me to break the national record, especially after the heats where I ran 6:58 with ease."

Jacobs has dominated the short sprints the last two seasons, taking the 60m gold at the 2022 World Indoor Championships, 100m gold at the 2022 Europeans and 60m gold at the 2021 Indoor Europeans, in addition to his Olympic triumph in the summer of 2021.

In the night's final race, Olympic 400m hurdle champion Karsten Warholm delighted with a meeting record 45.51 to win the men's 400m sprint crown. The Netherlands' Isayah Boers was more than a second back at 46.60 with Belgium's Dylan Borlee rounding out the top three at 47.49.

Another highlight from Lievin came in the men's 3,000m where Ethopia's Lamecha Girma, a Tokyo 2020 silver medal winner, ran a time of 7:23.81 to win and set a new indoor world record.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Keely Hodgkinson score wins

Earlier in the evening, France's Benjamin Robert captured the men's 800m with a season's best time of 1:46.78, while Team GB's Keely Hodgkinson, the reigning world and Olympic silver medallist in the event, took the women's 800m in 1:57:71, a 2023 world lead.

Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway ran another world lead, 3:32.38, in the men's 1500m for the win with Gudaf Tsegay (3:57.47) taking the women's title.

Team USA's Grant Holloway took the men's 60m hurdles in 7.39, while Olympic bronze medallist in the 400m hurdles, Femke Bol of the Netherlands, won the women's 400m with a 50.20, a meeting record.