2 world records, 2 American records reset as Diamond League season ends at Pre Classic
Shortly before Mondo Duplantis and Gudaf Tsegay hoisted their Diamond League trophies into the air, both found themselves up off the ground in celebration.
The Swedish pole vaulter and Ethiopian distance runner broke world records Sunday during the Prefontaine Classic track and field meet at Hayward Field, setting off wild celebrations on the track in front a raucous crowd of 12,355 attending the Diamond League final.
Sweden's Mondo Duplantis sets new pole vault world record
For Duplantis, it was the seventh time he has reset the men’s pole vault record, and the second time he’s done it at Hayward Field.
Last year he cleared 20 feet, 4½ inches during the 2022 World Athletics Championships meet. He bettered that mark when he cleared 20- 4¾ indoors this year.
Sunday, after already securing the Diamond League title, he asked for the bar to be raised to 20-5¼, a height he cleared on his first attempt — though the bar gave a little wobble as Duplantis floated back down to earth.
He immediately jumped off the mat and into the arms of several competitors, including American Sam Kendricks, who lifted him into the air.
“The limit is very high, and I hope that I can continue to jump well and keep jumping higher than I did today,” Duplantis said. “But for now I’m not really thinking about anything except enjoying this moment and enjoying what I just did."
Duplantis acknowledged that it's not coincidence that his two best jumps outdoors have come at Hayward Field.
“I think it’s just a combination of everything,” he said. “It has absolutely everything. It has the history, it has the modern touch. The track is really fast, the crowd and energy is fantastic. Everything just builds up to what I need to be able to break the world record.”
Ethiopia's Gudaf Tsegay breaks world record in 5,000
Tsegay also has some history at Hayward Field.
She won a world title in the 5,000 and a silver medal in the 1,500 at Hayward Field in 2022. Sunday she took down the world record in the 5,000 that was barely three months old.
Her finish in 14:00.21 topped the previous record of 14:05.20 set by Faith Kipyegon in June.
As she lay sprawled on the track after crossing the finish line, her coach and husband Hiluf Yihdego jumped the rail, scooped her up and lifted her into the air as the crowd roared.
“Eugene is for me my second country,” said Tsegay, noting her performance at Oregon22, as well as her World Junior Championships 1,500 silver in 2014. “Very good country, very good track, very good results.”
Giving Tsegay chase for much of the race was Kenyan Beatrice Chebet, who ran the third-fastest time in history with her finish in 14:05.92.
"When the body is responding, anything is possible,” Chebet said. “When I arrived here I was told she was going for a world record. So in my mind I was, I’ll go out with her.”
Athing Mu, Grant Fisher reset their American records
A pair of American records fell Sunday as well, though the owner of both remained the same.
Athing Mu reset her own record in the women’s 800 with her win in 1:54.97 as she barely held off rival Keely Hodgkinson in a side-by-side sprint down the homestretch.
Mu’s previous record was 1:55.4.
“I just wanted to make sure I just did my best to compete with the best, and to put as much effort as they were putting out there so I could get the results that I wanted,” said Mu, who thought her season had ended last month after a third-place finish in the world championships.
But a host-country wild card exemption got her into Sunday’s final and she made the most of the opportunity.
“I felt really new and refreshed, and I’m just happy,” she said. “I wasn’t even hoping for the American record, I was just hoping for a PR, but I knew I could do something fast if I could just relax and compete.”
Hodgkinson, who won silver at worlds in Budapest, set the Great Britain record with her finish in 1:55.19.
“It’s a really good way to end the season,” Hodgkinson said.
Jamaican Natoya Goule-Toppin was third in 1:55.96 to also get her national record. World champion Mary Moraa of Kenya was fourth in 1:57.42.
The men’s 3,000 came down to a photo finish as Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha were shoulder to shoulder as they broke through the tape.
Ingebrigtsen got the victory in 7:23.63 to 7:23.64 for Kejelcha.
It was the second victory for Ingebrigtsen, who also won the Bowerman Mile title on Saturday.
In both of his races, he set a Diamond League and meet record.
He admitted he had some concern about how fresh he would be Sunday after his all-out performance on Saturday.
“Going as hard as I did yesterday, of course that’s going to affect my body today,” Ingebrigtsen said. “But I kind of felt better than I was fearing when I woke up today. … I could’ve been easier on myself and laid back and just tried to win but that’s not my way of racing.”
Kejelcha’s time was an Ethiopian record, though he was disappointed the race was only recently switched from a 5,000 to a 3,000 in the last week.
“My preparation was for 5,000 and less than one week it changed to the 3,000 so really, I’m very confused,” he said.
Lost in the drama at the finish line was the strong kick by Grant Fisher who moved from sixth to third over the final 50 meters to reset his American record.
Fisher crossed in 7:25.47, three seconds faster than his previous best time of 7:28.48 from August 2022.
“I thought I could run about 7:30 today but sometimes you surprise yourself,” said Fisher, who lives in Eugene and trains with the Bowerman Track Club coached by Oregon’s Jerry Schumacher. “You never know how you’re going to feel until you step out there and you’re two laps in, and I actually felt pretty good.”
Fisher’s season was derailed for a while this summer with a leg injury that he said is behind him now.
“I actually felt pretty good pop in the legs,” Fisher said. “Sometimes you get to that final 100 and you’re flat, you’re just running through quicksand and you have no pop in your legs.”
American Noah Malone dominates in Para 100
One of the only legally blind Division I track athletes in the United States, Noah Malone stepped on to the track at Hayward Field for the first time Sunday afternoon and took home a dominant win in the men’s Para 100 in 10.72. Great Britain’s Zachary Shaw took second in 10.99, and fellow American Jaydin Blackwell took third in 11.01.
“It’s electric,” Malone said of Hayward Field. “I love running here. Even though it’s my first time, I already have a connection with this field, this atmosphere, the crowd. It’s amazing. The time could always be better.
“The opportunity to come out here and have this platform for all of us, it really can’t get better than that. A great way to cap off the season.”
Malone developed Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy at the age of 13, a rare, incurable genetic disease that leads to central vision loss. The condition has left Malone with 20/400 vision in his left eye and 20/600 in his right.
The now 21-year-old was a member of the 2019 Paralympic World Champion relay team for Team USA and is angling for more hardware in Paris for the upcoming Paralympics next August.
“The goal was to win,” Malone said. “I tried to execute as best I could. I for sure could clean it up a lot, but next year at the Paralympic Games in Paris is the main goal. This is just a stepping stone, a great stepping stone at that. I love the experience so far and I’m taking it all in.”
Other notable events
Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi avenged a defeat to Canadian Marco Arop in Budapest with a world-leading time of 1:42.80 in the men’s 800. The time was also a meet record and a personal best for Wanyonyi, who defeated Arop by five hundredths of a second. American Bryce Hoppel finished sixth in 1:44.63 after a seventh-place run at the world championships.
Ukraine national record holder and world champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh won again in the women’s high jump, clearing a world-leading 6-8 on her second attempt. Australian Nicola Olyslagers cleared the same height on her third attempt to finish second, recording a new personal best. American Vashti Cunningham finished fourth, clearing 6-3¼ on her second attempt. Cunningham finished 11th in Budapest.
Australian Matthew Denny won in the men’s discus after a fourth-place finish in Budapest, tossing his best mark on his sixth attempt of 224-6, a personal best.
Netherlands swept the top-3 spots in the women’s Para 100, with Fleur Jong edging Marlene van Gansewinkel by a hundredth of a second in 12.67. Kiki Hendriks rounded out the top three in 13.10.
The top-3 in Eugene was the exact same in the women’s 400 hurdles as in Budapest, with world champion Femke Bol of Netherlands running a meet record in 51.98. American Shamier Little finished second in 53.80, and Jamaican Rushell Clayton finished third in 53.56.
World champion Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic won the women’s 400 in 49.58, followed by Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek (50.38) and Lieke Klaver of Netherlands (50.47).
Jamaica’s Hansle Parchment recorded a personal best in the 110 hurdles, overcoming an early lead by American and world champion Grant Holloway in the second half to take the win in Eugene in 12.93, a new world-leading time.
American’s Valarie Allman (225-3) and Laulauga Tausaga (224-3) took first and second, respectively, in the women’s discus, after Tausaga got the best of Allman in Budapest. Oregon Ducks’ thrower, and the collegiate record holder in the discus, Jorinde van Klinken of Netherlands finished fourth with a toss of 216-7.
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan came back after a sixth-place finish in Budapest to win the 100 hurdles in Eugene, running a season-best 12.33. Amusan defeated world champion Danielle Williams of Jamaica, who finished fourth in 12.47, and world champion runner-up Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico, who finished second in 12.38. Former Duck record holder Alaysha Johnson took sixth in 12.48.
Swiss jumper Simon Ehammer took first in the men’s long jump with a 26-11¾ leap.
World champion Ivana Vuleta of Serbia finished first in the women’s long jump with a mark of 22-5¾.
Canadian Andre de Grasse ran a season-best 19.76 to win the men’s 200 after finishing sixth in Budapest, with Americans Kenneth Bednarek (19.95) and Erriyon Knighton (19.97) finishing second and third, respectively. World champion Noah Lyles did not run in the 200 in Eugene.
World champion Shericka Jackson set a new meet record in the women’s 200, finishing with a time of 21.57.
After finishing third in Budapest, Joe Kovacs won in Eugene in the men’s shot put with a season-best toss of 75-2¾. World champion Ryan Crouser finished second with a mark of 75-2.
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: World Records fall on final day of Prefontaine Classic
