Belgrade (AP) – Pole vault star Armand Duplantis has set a grandiose world record final point at the World Indoor Championships in athletics.
The 22-year-old Olympic champion from Sweden jumped 6.20 meters in the last attempt in Belgrade, one centimeter higher than on March 7th at the same place. Duplantis had previously secured gold with 6.05 meters.
Before that, triple jumper Yulimar Rojas from Venezuela with 15.74 meters in the last attempt and hurdle sprinter Grant Holloway with 7.29 seconds over 60 meters in the semifinals set world records on Sunday. Holloway, who equaled his own record, was also unbeatable in the final with a time of 7.39 seconds.
For the 16-strong German squad, without their stars, it was only enough for a few places in the top ten. The German outdoor champion Oleg Zernikel finished ninth in Duplantis’ victory with a jump of 5.75 meters. The German champion Maximilian Thorwirth ran over 3000 meters in 7:45.87 minutes in eighth place. The title went to 10,000m Olympic champion Selemon Barega of Ethiopia in 7:41.38 minutes.
Leipzig’s Robert Farken finished eleventh over 1500 meters in 3:41.29 minutes, with defending champion Samuel Tefera winning. Thanks to an energetic final sprint, the Ethiopian defeated the Norwegian Olympic champion and indoor world record holder Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:33.02) in 3:32.77 minutes. In the women’s long jump, local hero Ivana Vuleta prevailed with 7.06 meters. The Serbian Olympic fourth jumped the longest distance of this indoor season.
Ukraine’s Maryna Bech-Romanchuk was sixth with 6.73 meters. At noon she had won silver in the triple jump with her last attempt at 14.74 meters behind the outstanding world record holder Rojas and thus another medal for Ukraine after the celebrated title of high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchich on Saturday.