EUGENE, Oregon (Sept. 17) – Sweden’s Armand Mondo Duplantis redefined the limits of pole vaulting by breaking his own world record, clearing an astounding 6.23 meters at the Eugene Diamond League Final here at Hayward Field on Sunday. The feat here at the 2023 Prefontaine Classic surpassed his previous best of 6.22 meters set in France earlier this year, marking his seventh world record in the discipline.
Duplantis, a back-to-back world champion, dominated the field at the season-ending meeting. EJ Obiena of the Philippines finished second with a vault of 5.82m, while American Sam Kendricks took third place with 5.72m.
Read more: Gudaf Tsegay destroys 5000m world record at Eugene Diamond League Final with 14:00.21
The atmosphere at Hayward Field was electric as Duplantis made his record-breaking attempt. The Olympic champion nudged the bar as he cleared the record height, eliciting a collective gasp from the crowd before they erupted into cheers.
With his family present to witness the historic moment, an elated Duplantis celebrated by jumping for joy and sprinting to his team and fellow pole vaulters, who lifted him into the air.
“It was the most family I’ve had at a competition since high school. So that’s an unbelievable feeling, especially because those are the people I want to make the most proud,” Duplantis said.
The record-breaking performance was a fitting end to Duplantis’s extraordinary season, especially after his unsuccessful attempt to surpass his own record at the world championships in Budapest.
The Eugene Diamond League Final was a day of shattered records, as Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay also broke the women’s 5,000m world record, clocking 14;00.21 seconds.
Her performance broke the previous record of 14:05.20 set by Faith Kipyegon of Kenya in June.
Besides the world records, there were more than five meeting record set here today, with Jamaicans, Shericka Jackson in the 200m with 21.57 seconds and Olympic champion Hansle Parchment, who set a personal best of 12.93 secs for a world lead in the men’s 110m hurdles, among the featured performance.
Olympic champion Athing Mu (1:54.97), Keely Hodgkinson (1:55.19) and Natoya Goule-Toppin (1:55.96) all set national record when finishing in that order in the women’s 800m.
