Athletics superstar Armand Duplantis suffered a surprising defeat in front of his home crowd. Because: It was the first in almost three years.
Pole vault exception Armand Duplantis comes away empty-handed at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm. The superstar couldn’t get over 5.80 meters in his home country – a height that the 26-year-old actually overcomes effortlessly.
The Australian Kurtis Marschall was able to take advantage of the world record holder’s surprising mistake. In the end, 5.90 meters was enough for him to win. Baptiste Thiery from France came third.
This immediately ended an outstanding series for Duplantis: he had won 40 victories in a row. His last non-win dates back to July 2023.
The world champion and Olympic champion made a failed attempt at his entry height of 5.60 m. Finally he broke twice at 6.00 meters and was also unsuccessful in his last attempt over 6.05 m.
Emil Agyekum sprints to third place
In recent years, athletics fans could actually expect a record-breaking show when Armand Duplantis competed with his staff. Indoors, he gradually increased his world record to 6.31 meters over the last six years; outdoors, he only set the new record of 6.30 meters in September 2025 in Tokyo.
As a two-time Olympic champion, three-time outdoor world champion and four-time indoor champion, he is naturally the absolute favorite in every competition.
At the Diamond Meeting in Stockholm, Emil Agyekum was convincing from a German perspective in the 400 m hurdles. He finished third in 47.72 seconds and improved his best performance by eleven hundredths. Brazil’s former world champion Alison dos Santos won in 47.11 seconds.
Olympic long jump champion Malaika Mihambo, who only jumped to fifth place with 6.70 m in her season debut in the Diamond League, had to accept a setback.