Pole vault giant Armand Duplantis did not win a competition for the first time in almost three years and 40 victories in a row – and of all things at the Diamond League meeting in front of his home audience. There were light and shadows for the German athletes in Stockholm.
World record holder Duplantis (6.31 m) had to admit defeat to the Australian Kurtis Marschall (5.90) with an unquestionable 5.80 m at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm, where he jumped in front of his raging compatriots last year to the record that has now been surpassed, and came second. The world champion and Olympic champion did not look fresh and made a failed attempt at his starting height of 5.60 m. Finally he broke twice at 6.00 and was also unsuccessful in his saved last attempt over 6.05 m. The 26-year-old track and field star last failed to win in Brussels in July 2023 (fourth place).
“I just jumped poorly. This feels really shitty now”Duplantis explained afterwards in the Sportschau interview: “I wasn’t fully focused. At this level you can’t win a competition. Honestly, I can stay at home for the next competitions.”
Werro with the fastest time in 43 years
Audrey Werro was responsible for the international highlight. The 22-year-old indoor vice world champion ran the world’s best time in 43 years over 800 m in 1:53.98 minutes. Only the Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova (1:53.28/1983) and Soviet runner Nadezhda Olisarenko (1:53.43/1980) were ever faster than the Swiss super talent.
Agyekum flies over the hurdles in the best time
The DLV starters experienced a rollercoaster of emotions in Sweden. Emil Agyekum provided the brilliant performance from a German perspective in the 400 m hurdles, which this time was held outside the Diamond League classification. The World Championships sixth placed third in 47.72 seconds and improved his best performance by eleven hundredths. In the German best list, only the great Harald Schmid is ahead of the Berliner, whose record has stood at 47.48 for almost 44 years. The winner in Stockholm was Brazil’s former world champion Alison dos Santos in 47.11 seconds.
Mihambo “can’t get the potential out”
After a good start to the summer, long jump ace Malaika Mihambo (LG Kurpfalz) was certainly hoping for further improvement in her Diamond League season debut and not the mediocre 6.70 m, which in the end was only enough for sixth place in the victory of Frenchwoman Hilary Kpatcha (6.85). European indoor champion Larissa Iapichino (Italy/6.84) and Nia Robinson (Jamaica/6.80) took second and third place.
“I made too many technical mistakes and couldn’t change everything during the competition. The potential is there, but I couldn’t get the most out of it today”Mihambo summarized.
Mabry refuses to be defeated
Olympic shot put champion Yemisi Mabry, who recently managed her first 19-meter attempts of the summer, also expected more. In Sweden she took fifth place with 18.79 m and had a mixed result: “I’m happy with the placement, but the distance isn’t what I’m capable of”said the man from Mannheim and emphasized with a view to the European Championships: “There’s still a lot of work to be done. But we won’t let competitions like this get us down if the ball hasn’t flown that far. In a few days it could look different again.”
The Dutch world champion Jessica Schilder was the only participant to exceed the 20-meter mark with a meeting record of 20.89 m and took victory in a strong field.
Steeplechase runner Meyer and Bebendorf are convincing
Lea Meyer (VfL Löningen) and Karl Bebendorf (Dresdner SC 1898) celebrated a successful start to the season over the 3000 m obstacle. Despite a scramble that initially set her back in the race, the 2022 European Vice Champion crossed the finish line in fifth place in a good 9:13.67 minutes and thus also achieved the confirmation standard for the European Championships in Birmingham (August 10th to 16th). “I’m happy. After 50 meters I was almost down, but it was clear that it would be very close”the 28-year-old described: “I said before that I would be happy to take anything under 9:15, we can build on that.”
Olivia Gürth (New Year’s Eve Run Trier) had to be content with 9:42.35 minutes and 15th place. In a scattered field, the Tunisian Marwa Bouzayani ran a lonely race at the front and stormed to victory in 8:59.28 minutes with a meeting record. The season’s fastest Peruth Chemutai (Uganda) was missing in Stockholm.
Bebendorf checks off EM standard
After his recent increase in the DLV best performance over the 2,000 m obstacle (5:18.29), Bebendorf also impressed on the longer route. The European Championship third place stayed in the top group for a long time, in the end he came seventh in 8:14.13 minutes and thus ticked off the European Championship standard.
“It was a pretty good race, but completely different than expected”said Bebendorf after one “ultra-slow” Run. He has three laps to go “I felt so fresh that I even thought about winning for a short time. Then I probably pushed too early, so I missed a bit in the end. But it was my first race, and you can live with that at the beginning.”
Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali (Morocco/8:10.40) won the home game in Rabat like a week before. Frederik Ruppert, who came second in Rabat and set a sensational European record (7:57.80), had decided not to start in Stockholm.
Discus giant Stahl steps into the breach
Robert Farken (SG Motor Gohlis-Nord Leipzig) came in eighth in a world-class field over 1500 m in 3:32.99 minutes. The DLV discus throwers Marike Steinacker (TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen) in fifth with 62.13 and Shanice Craft (SV Halle) in seventh with 61.88 m were unable to build on the performances already shown this season in the renewed triumph of series winner Valarie Sion (USA/68.60 m).
Discus thrower Henrik Janssen was unable to demonstrate his top form again this time. The Magdeburger came sixth with 65.53 m. The Swedish veteran Daniel Stahl triumphed with 69.60 m and caused a storm of enthusiasm among the local athletics fans.