Duplantis and Rojas retain Diamond League titles with dominant performances in Zurich

Mondo Duplantis and Yulimar Rojas have both taken their events to new levels and they made further history at the Weltklasse meeting in Zurich on Thursday (8).

The respective pole vault and triple jump superstars were among the recently crowned world champions to triumph at the Wanda Diamond League Final, Duplantis setting a meeting record to win his second Diamond Trophy and Rojas leading a field of unprecedented depth to join him in becoming a back-to-back Diamond League title winner. Cuba’s Andy Diaz Hernandez also topped a historic men’s triple jump final, while USA’s Kara Winger brought her career to a close with one final emotional javelin victory.

At the end of a year in which he has improved the world pole vault record three times, won world titles both indoors and outdoors and taken his career total of six metre-plus clearances to a remarkable 54, Duplantis described his win in Zurich’s Letzigrund Stadium as “the perfect cherry on top”.

It took three vaults for him to win the title and another two to improve the meeting record, the Swedish 22-year-old eventually clearing 6.07m to add a centimetre to the mark he set last year. Entering the competition at 5.62m, Duplantis managed that height on his first go. He then passed at 5.72m, cleared 5.81m at the first time of asking and passed 5.86m. When he soared over 5.91m on his first try and Norway’s Sondre Guttormsen, USA’s Chris Nilsen and France’s Renaud Lavillenie were all unable to make it over, Duplantis was confirmed champion and had the bar moved to a meeting record height. After coming close on his first attempt, he flew over the bar on his second before calling it a night.

“If I came into this competition and I didn’t perform well, the whole season – which was so amazing – wouldn’t feel as good as it should feel,” said Duplantis, who bounced back after his recent loss in Brussels. “In any competition, on any given day, I think I should be able to jump six metres. Same goals next year. We are going to try and crank it up another notch.”

In Zurich, Guttormsen took his own performance up a notch, improving his PB to 5.86m to equal the Norwegian record. He fought for it, with a total of 12 vaults, and it paid off. The NCAA champion then had three attempts at 5.91m but that was a height too far, but his 5.86m got him the runner-up place ahead of Olympic and world silver medallist Nilsen, who cleared 5.81m but then passed at 5.86m, as did 2012 Olympic champion Lavillenie, who finished fourth on countback.

Like Duplantis, even with the world record on her CV, Rojas still wants more. The 26-year-old jumped an outright world record of 15.74m to win her third world indoor title in Belgrade in March and then soared 15.47m to win her third world outdoor title in Oregon, but her target is something beyond 16 metres. As a result, she seemed disappointed with her winning distance of 15.28m (-0.2m/s) in Zurich, but was pleased that it resulted in another Diamond Trophy win.

And although she might not have been overjoyed with her own mark, she won over a field of great depth – never before had four women jumped 14.75m or farther in a Diamond League meeting. Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk, contesting both the triple jump and long jump finals in the same evening, leapt 14.96m for the second best mark of her career behind the 15.02m PB she set when winning the European title last month, while Jamaica’s two-time world silver medallist and Commonwealth champion Shanieka Ricketts jumped 14.85m for third and USA’s world bronze medallist Tori Franklin 14.75m for fourth.

“I am very pleased to be able to finish my season with a Diamond League win. It was not a great mark, but I am still happy considering it was a long season, full of ups and downs,” said Rojas. “My goal for next year is to improve my shape, both physically and in terms of my technique. There are some details that need some fine tuning. I am already thinking about next summer, and the World Championships in Budapest.”

There was also unprecedented depth in the men’s triple jump final, Hernandez jumping 17.70m (-0.8m/s) as three athletes soared 17.60m or beyond for the first time in the Diamond League.

The 26-year-old set his previous PB of 17.68m at the Italian Championships in June but added 2cm to that mark in the first round of the competition to build on his wins in Lausanne and Silesia. Portugal’s world and Olympic champion Pedro Pichardo, who was targeting a hattrick of Diamond Trophy wins after his victories in 2018 and 2021, was second with 17.63m and Cuba’s Jordan Alejandro Diaz Fortun was third with 17.60m.

The men’s long jump was won by Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, who rebounded after finishing second at the World Championships to win the European title and then take the Diamond Trophy. Saving his best leap until last, he jumped 8.42m (0.0m/s) in the sixth round – the fourth-best outdoor winning mark of his career – as part of a series that also included leaps of 8.33m and 8.14m.

USA’s 2016 world indoor champion Marquis Dendy, sporting a bucket hat, was second with 8.18m, also achieved in the last round, while Cuba’s Olympic bronze medallist Maykel Masso claimed another third place with an 8.05m leap.

Serbia’s Ivana Vuleta also added the Diamond Trophy to her European long jump title win, the two-time world champion jumping 6.97m (-0.7m) to triumph. It was close in the fight for second, Sweden’s European indoor bronze medallist Khaddi Sagnia getting the runner-up spot with 6.55m, USA’s NACAC champion and world fourth-place finisher Quanesha Burks placing third with 6.54m and Germany’s Olympic and two-time world champion Malaika Mihambo finishing fourth with 6.52m.

Silver lining for Chopra and Winger

World silver medallists Neeraj Chopra and Kara Winger may have had to settle for the runner-up spot at the World Championships, but the javelin duo ended their season by taking their place on the winners’ podium at the conclusion of the Diamond League Final.

Chopra fouled his first attempt as Olympic silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch took an early lead, throwing 84.15m and 86.00m in the first two rounds. But Chopra then sent his spear out to 88.84m at the end of round two, giving the Olympic champion the lead. The Indian followed it with throws of 88.00m and 86.11m, while Vadlejch improved to 86.94m in round four.

There were no changes in the final two rounds, though Chopra had an 87.00m effort in the penultimate round.

Winger proved her recent Brussels victory was no fluke, wrapping up her season – and her career – with another win in the women’s javelin.

The 36-year-old, who broke the US record with 68.11m in Brussels last week, once again got the better of two-time world champion Kelsey-Lee Barber, out-throwing the Australian in each round.

Winger led from the outset, opening with 61.36m before improving to 63.81m in round two. Her winning effort of 64.98m came in the fifth round and put her comfortably ahead of Barber’s 63.72m.

Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi, who shared a podium with Barber and Winger in Oregon, was third with 63.56m.

“I’ve been to Zurich four times, but there was something special about today,” said Winger. “I felt like the entire stadium was with me. I felt like I had so many friends with me. I just wanted to have a good time this year and it turned out to be the best season of my life. I am so grateful for what I did because we worked really hard for this and I just cannot believe it.”

World record-holder Barbora Spotakova, who took European bronze last month at the age of 41, hinted that this too may be the end of her career.

“For me, it is just a big success to be here and compete,” said the Czech thrower, who placed fifth with 59.08m. “After Munich, I felt so tired that I did not want to compete anymore. Maybe this will be my last big competition on the professional level.”

Mahuchikh soars, Ceh and Allman prevail

Ukraine’s world indoor high jump champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh cleared a world-leading 2.05m to win in Brussels – her highest ever outdoor jump – and she backed that up with a 2.03m clearance to secure the Diamond League title. In what has been an incredibly challenging year because of the conflict in her home country, the 20-year-old has become a world indoor winner, European champion and world silver medallist, and now she has a Diamond Trophy to go with those honours.

“Every competition, every win, is so important for me and for Ukraine,” she said. “Now, I am really like an ambassador of Ukraine on the track because I talk to many journalists and I have the chance to talk about Ukraine.

“Now, I finish the season with 2.03m. It is so nice and I hope I will find the power to compete in the new season.”

Her compatriot Iryna Gerashchenko, the world and Olympic fourth-place finisher, finished second on countback with a 1.94m clearance, Australia’s Olympic silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers also managing the same height.

In the men’s discus, Kristjan Ceh maintained his unbeaten record in this season’s Diamond League, throwing 67.10m to win ahead of Austria’s Olympic bronze medallist Lukas Weisshaidinger and Lithuania’s world bronze medallist Andrius Gudzius.

Slovenia’s 23-year-old Ceh won all four of the qualification meetings in Birmingham, Rabat, Rome and Stockholm, improving his national record to 71.27m in Birmingham, and capped that with a win in the final. Weisshaidinger threw 65.70m in second and Gudzius 65.28m in third.

USA’s Olympic champion Valarie Allman and Croatia’s two-time world and two-time Olympic gold medallist Sandra Perkovic filled the top two spots at each of the Diamond League qualification meetings for the women’s discus and in the final it was Allman who won the head-to-head. Launching the discus 67.77m in the third round, the world bronze medallist won by almost half a metre ahead of Perkovic with 67.31m, while Portugal’s Liliana Ca was third with 63.34m.

Jon Mulkeen and Jess Whittington for World Athletics