Sweden’s Armand ‘Mondo’ Duplantis and Australian Nicola Olyslagers sealed wins in the Diamond League finals in a high-octane ‘city event’ in downtown Zurich on Wednesday.
Duplantis, fresh from setting a 13th world record of 6.29m in Budapest earlier this month, was competing in one of six field disciplines held at Zurich’s Sechselautenplatz, directly in front of the city’s iconic opera house.
The US-born Swede had described the pole vault as a “beautiful circus act” and the street feel to the event certainly led to a visceral ambiance that left the temporary stands shaking amid stomping feet and raucous, choreographed cheers.
“It was really cool, really amazing, I loved the atmosphere,” said Duplantis.
“I’ve never done a street meet here. Compared to the stadium, it’s kind of the same but different. I like it, I think it’s super cool to be up and close to everybody.”
Duplantis ran out the winner in 6.0m over Greek rival Emmanouil Karalis in the perfect tonic before the September 13-21 worlds in Tokyo.
The field of six was quickly cut, American Sam Hendricks, Dutchman Menno Vloon, Australian Kurtis Marschall and French veteran Renaud Lavillenie all falling by the wayside.
Just Duplantis and Karalis cleared 5.90 as the bar was raised to 6.0m.
Karalis failed in his first bid at the that mark, but Duplantis sailed over. A second failure and the pressure mounted on the Greek.
In front of a rowdy crowd of 5,000 and with ‘Zorba’s Dance’ booming out over the tannoy, Karalis went clear to ensure the competition continued.
The bar went up to 6.10m, but it proved too high on the night for both athletes, Duplantis winning on countback.
Olyslagers edges Mahuchikh
Ukraine’s Olympic champion and world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh renewed her rivalry with two-time world indoor champion Olyslagers in the women’s high jump.
Olyslagers was first over at 2.02m, Mahuchikh failing twice and skipping a third attempt.
The Australian then cleared 2.04m, Mahuchikh upping the ante by having the bar raised to 2.06.
Olyslagers had three failures at that height, leaving the Ukrainian with one shot at snatching the win.
But she clipped the bar and had to be content with second behind Olyslagers.
Britain’s Morgan Lake set a national record of 2.00m for third, on countback from Ukraine’s Yuliia Levchenko.
There was home delight as decathlete Simon Ehammer, a 2022 world long jump bronze medallist, went out to 8.32m for victory.
Italian Mattia Furlani took second, just 2cm shy of the Swiss jumper’s mark, with Australian Liam Adcock rounding out the podium (8.24).
The women’s pole vault, rescheduled as a city event for safety reasons given the stormy weather conditions predicted for Thursday, went the way of Katie Moon, the American managing a best of 4.82m.
In a US podium cleansweep, Sandi Morris and Emily Grove finished second and third, both with 4.75m.
Two-time world champion Joe Kovacs, who missed the cut at the US trials and won’t be going to the Tokyo worlds, nailed a 22.46m effort on his fifth attempt to bag the win in the men’s shot put.
The American finished well clear of compatriot Payton Otterdahl (22.07) and Jamaica’s Rajindra Campbell (21.87).
“We absolutely love coming here for this street competition. There’s no better atmosphere,” said Kovacs, who wished his US teammates well in Tokyo.
“I’m just happy coming out here and throwing a season’s best.”
Canada’s Sarah Mitton claimed the women’s shot put trophy with a best of 20.67m, finished ahead of the Netherlands’ Jessica Schilder (20.26) and American Chase Jackson (20.08).
The remaining 26 Diamond League champions will be crowned in the course of a bumper programme at Zurich’s Letzigrund Stadium on Thursday.
