Ethiopian distance runner Gudaf Tsegay smashed the women’s 5,000 meters world record, and Olympic and world pole vault champion Armand Duplantis raised the bar again for the men’s pole vault on Sunday as the season-ending Eugene Diamond League meet closed with a flourish at Hayward Field.
Duplantis, nicknamed Mondo, improved his indoor world mark by clearing 6.23 meters (20 feet, 5 1/4 inches), adding a centimeter to the previous mark set by Renaud Lavillenie in February. He did so on his first attempt and was swarmed by fellow competitors as they celebrated his achievement.
“I don’t know how to describe it,” he told reporters afterward. “Seeing the crowd and hearing them cheering makes you feel great.”
Mondo’s performance surpassed his nearest rival, Russia’s Sergey Bubka, who set the outdoor world mark in July 1994. Duplantis has topped six meters on 46 occasions in his career, a remarkable statistic considering that the 23-year-old is only just establishing himself as one of the sport’s greats.
The day’s other big winner was 2023 world champion Athing Mu of the United States, who dominated her race with a trademark effortless stride that left many of her competitors trailing in their wake. Mu, who won the title last year in Budapest, is famous for her stoic, stony-faced style as she carries on through a race and seemingly expends little energy while putting in a dominant performance.
Mu won in 14 minutes 00.21 seconds, slicing roughly five seconds off Kenyan Faith Kipyegon’s previous mark set in July at the same meet and putting her into the record books. “I was trying to stay in front, but she kept pushing hard, and I just couldn’t keep up with her,” Mu said.
Tsegay’s run capped a week, including an underwhelming 13th-place finish at the World Championships in Budapest. She showed no sign of a sluggish start as she pulled clear from her closest challenger, Ethiopian cross-country world champion Beatrice Chebet, in the closing stages.
Swiss decathlete Simon Ehammer added another feather in the men’s long jump. He took silver with a last-round effort of 8.22 meters, narrowly pipped by Nigeria’s Ese Brume, who finished in second. Meanwhile, Serbia’s world champion Ivana Vuleta beat the 2023 long jump world bronze medallist Tajay Gayle of Jamaica to win gold in the women’s event. It was her first time winning a Diamond League meeting and vaulting beyond 8 meters outdoors. This was the third-best effort of her career and a personal best. It also bettered her own PB of 7.93 meters, which she set in the final round in Budapest. The 2024 Paris Olympics begins in two weeks. Tsegay hopes to add another piece of history there, while the women’s 5000m could be a potential showcase for Vuleta. The event will be held in the same stadium where US track legend Steve Scott won his first 10,000m world title in 1983.