Pole vault world record holder Armand Duplantis has suffered his first defeat in more than a year in Brussels.
The 22-year-old high-flyer from Sweden did not get past 5.81 m at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels and finished second behind World Cup third-placed Ernest John Obiena (Philippines), who was the only one to jump the following height of 5.91 m .
Olympic champion Duplantis, who had improved the world record to 6.21 m when he triumphed at the World Championships in Eugene in July, had not finished first at the meeting in Lausanne in August 2021. Since then he had celebrated 20 victories. World Championship fifth Oleg Zernikel (Landau) was seventh in Brussels with 5.61 m.
High jumper Mahuchich 2.05m
The most spectacular performance on Friday evening was provided by high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchich, who broke the Ukrainian record with 2.05 m and is now tenth in the “all-time” best list. Then the 20-year-old jumped 2.10 m – one centimeter more than the world record set by Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinowa in 1987. She failed three times.
World champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce narrowly lost the world championship revenge in 10.74 seconds to 200 m world champion Shericka Jackson (both Jamaica / 10.73). Constantin Preis (Sindelfingen) sold well over 400 m hurdles and finished sixth with a best time of the season of 48.83 seconds when World Champion Alison dos Santos (Brazil/47.54) won. Vice European Champion Lea Meyer (Cologne) did not finish the 3000 m obstacle course.
