Two weeks after marrying model and influencer Desiré Inglander in a glamorous ceremony held in the south of France, the Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis once again took to the skies at the Paris Meetingeighth stop of the Diamond League. ‘Mondo’ He had not competed since his resounding defeat in Stockholm on June 7just five days before his wedding, when he did not exceed 5.80 meters and was surprised by the Australian Kurtis Marschall.
A defeat that must have hurt someone as competitive and perfectionist as Duplantis, who returned with a bang at the Sébastien Charléty stadium in the French capital, on a less hot afternoon than initially expected. To the point of questioning the holding of the meeting.
The Nordic genius surpassed 5.63, 5.93, 6.03 and 6.13 the first time before attempting a new world record of 6.32a height that currently resists him. The Frenchman Baptiste Thiery, with 5.93, was second, which gives an idea of the distance between Duplantis and the ‘mortals’, especially if the Greek ‘Manolo’ Karalis does not have his day – he was third with 5.83-.
But Duplantis’ performance was not the only notable performance of the day because hundredth by hundredth, the Swiss Audrey Werro seems willing to shake the foundations of athletics with a new record in the women’s 800 metersthe distance that dominates with an iron fist Czech Jarmila Kratochvílová since 1983. Three weeks ago, at the prestigious Bauhaus-Galan in Stockholm, Werro became the third woman to run under 1:54.
He also did it in the presence of the British Keely Hodgkinsoncurrent Olympic champion, who seemed like the woman called to beat the historic time (1:53.28) of Kratochvílová after fly this year in the indoor season.
That day, the 22-year-old Swiss eight-hundredth runner ran in 1:43.98, a mark that today in Paris she has lowered another 18 hundredths to become the first woman to run twice under 1:54, something that neither the Czech – then Czechoslovak – nor the Soviet Nadezhda Olizarenko (1:53.43 in 1980) achieved.
Bad version of Attaoui
In it 800 male There was also another world record attempt, this time by the Canadian and Olympic runner-up in Paris Marco Arop, who in the absence of the final stretch seemed in a position to beat David Rudisha’s historic record in London 2012, but he lacked legs and lungs in the last meters after an extreme effort.
Even so it ended with the best mark of the season (1:41.84)in a career in which Mohamed Attaoui punctured the bone again. The Cantabrian athlete came out at the back of the group, as is usually the case, and did not have that change that allows him to make up positions in the second counterattack.
He finally finished ninth with a time of 1:45.09, confirming that it is going through a small slump after already signing two discreet races at the meetings in Oslo and Stockholm at the beginning of June.
Llopis and Asier, without end
They didn’t do too well either. Quique Llopis and Asier Martínezwho did not get a place in the final of the 110 hurdles after being fifth and sixth respectively in the second series of the high hurdles. The Valencian set a time of 13.34, four hundredths away from the cut of the best eight.
Llopis, for the moment, has not been able to translate into the higher distance the improvement exhibited last winter in the 60 hurdles, an event in which he achieved a valuable world silver. The Navarrese, for his part, ran in 13.39. Already in the final, victory and ‘mark’ for the American Jamal Britt with 12.89 (+0.8) to rank eighth on the all-time list tied with the historic David Oliver.
The discreet Spanish day in Paris ’rounded it off’ Dani Arce in some 3,000 obstacles that saw the German Karl Bebendorf shinewho at 30 years old achieved a triumph of enormous prestige with a personal best (8:05.55). The man from Burgos did not feel comfortable at any time and ended up sixteenth with a time of 8:20.99.
Other notable races
In the men’s 400m, the world champion hits the table Busang Kebinatshipi. The Botswana, with a marvelous final stretch, ended in 43.54only one hundredth slower than the time that won him world gold in Tokyo and the all-time Diamond League record. The Dominican was not far behind Marileidy Paulinowho won the women’s return to the track with another circuit record (48.48).
In the hectometer, ‘sorpasso’ of the American Trayvon Bromell -9.91 (+0.1)-who defeated his compatriot and Olympic champion Noah Lyles for one hundredth. And encouraging third place for the Italian Marcell Jacobs with 9.96, his best record in two years.
Outside of the Diamond League program was the 1,500 male but in the end it was one of the best races of the afternoon in the City of Light, thanks to the exceptional staging of the Australian, only 20 years old, Cameron Myerswhich won with the best time of the season worldwide and Oceania record (3:28.00). So good that it ranks 12th all time.
