Duplantis breaks world pole vault record on Budapest return

Pole vault superstar Mondo Duplantis set his 13th world record with a 6.29m* clearance to highlight the Istvan Gyulai Memorial – a World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting – in Budapest on Tuesday (12).

The Swedish vaulter, returning to the scene of his 2023 World Championships triumph, was pushed all the way by Greek rival Emmanouil Karalis with both men clearing 6.02m on their first attempts.

Karalis eventually bowed out after two misses at 6.11m, but Duplantis went clear at that height to add one centimetre to the Hungarian all-comers’ record he set when winning the world title at this stadium in 2023. He then moved the bar to 6.29m – a one-centimetre increase on the world record height he cleared in Stockholm in June – and got over it on his second try, giving the Gyulai Memorial its first ever world record.

Earlier in the evening, the home crowd was treated to a Hungarian victory in the men’s hammer as world and Olympic medallist Bence Halasz broke the meeting record with a world-leading 83.18m.

World and Olympic champion Ethan Katzberg opened with 80.31m to take an early lead, but Halasz responded in round three with 81.85m. Katzberg regained the lead in round five with 81.88m, but Halasz hit back right away with a lifetime best of 83.18m.

Both men threw beyond 81 metres again in the final round, 81.63m for Katzberg and 81.90m for Halasz, but the positions remained the same. Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Kokhan was third with 80.84m.

Four other meeting records were set on an evening of high-quality action.

Perhaps the most surprising came from Bryan Levell in the men’s 200m. The Jamaican, who headed into the race with a season’s best of 20.10, pulled away from the field in the home straight to win in 19.69 (-0.4m/s) to smash Erriyon Knighton’s meeting record by 0.19. Wayde van Niekerk was a distant runner-up in 20.07.

Laban Kipkorir Chepkwony, who finished fourth at Kenya’s World Trials last month, gained redemption of sorts by winning the men’s 800m in a huge PB of 1:42.96, breaking the meeting record set nine years ago by world record-holder David Rudisha. Mark English finished well to take second place in an Irish record of 1:43.37 ahead of French champion Yanis Meziane (1:43.71).

Georgia Griffith was another athlete who produced an impressive finish, as the Australian opened up almost a second on the rest of the field to win the women’s 1500m in a meeting record of 3:58.25. Spain’s Marta Perez was second in 3:59.22 ahead of USA’s Heather MacLean (3:59.35).

The sixth meeting record came in the women’s pole vault, which was won by Tina Sutej with 4.73m.

Triple Dutch success on the track

Netherlands’ three leading sprinters produced dominant performances to win their respective events.

Femke Bol won the women’s 400m hurdles by more than two seconds in 52.24 – faster than her winning times from her previous two appearances at this meeting. Belgium’s Naomi van den Broeck was second in 54.50.

Nadine Visser produced a near-flawless run to win the women’s 100m hurdles in 12.43 (-0.4m/s) ahead of the fast-starting Alia Armstrong (12.59).

Lieke Klaver notched up the third Dutch victory of the evening with a convincing 50.11 run in the women’s 400m. Mercy Oketch of Kenya was runner-up in 50.69.

While the Dutch trio won by significant margins, there were close finishes in most other sprint events.

Olympic bronze medallist Muzala Samukonga held off strong challenges from Jereem Richards and Khaleb McRae to win the men’s 400m in a season’s best of 44.11. Richards clocked 44.14 and McRae ran 44.16.

Olympic silver medallist Kishane Thompson took the men’s 100m in 9.95, while Abdul-Rasheed Saminu and Akani Simbine tied for second place in 10.01. In the women’s 100m, Marie-Josee Ta Lou Smith held off Jamaica’s leading trio by winning in 10.97. Tina Clayton was second in 10.99 ahead of world 200m champion Shericka Jackson (11.00) and multiple world and Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (11.07).

Just one thousandth of a second separated Ashanti Moore and Favour Ofili in the women’s 200m, both women clocking 22.31 with Moore being awarded victory in a photofinish.

Elsewhere, world leader Cordell Tinch won the men’s 110m hurdles in 13.20 from 2021 Olympic champion Hansle Parchment (13.24). Kenya’s Mathew Kipchumba Kipsang finished strongly to take the men’s 3000m in 7:33.23 ahead of Mexico’s Eduardo Herrero (7:33.58).

*Subject to the usual ratification procedure