Jakob Ingebrigtsen broke one of the longest-held world athletics records* on a sweltering afternoon at the Silesian Stadium on Sunday (25th) when he clocked a staggering 7 minutes 17.55 seconds for the 3,000 meters, more than three seconds faster than the 7 minutes 20.67 seconds set by Kenya's Daniel Komen in 1996.
And the 12th round of this season's Wanda Diamond League series ended on a giddy note as Mondo Duplantis cleared 6.26 metres to claim his 10th world record in the pole vault, adding one centimetre to the mark he set when defending his title at the Paris Olympics earlier this month.
In an exciting event watched by a record crowd of 42,357, 10 course records were set and World 800m champion Marco Arop of Canada clocked 1:41.87 to beat Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya, while Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi defied the odds to win the men's high jump.
It was a fine performance for Ingebrigtsen at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial Meet, who lost the 1,500m title at the Paris Olympics earlier this month but won gold in the 5,000m.
On the eve of the competition, the Norwegian commented: “I'm excited about the race. 3000m is a very good distance for me and everything is going well.”
It was a big accomplishment. Already third fastest in world history with his 7:23.63, clocked in Eugene last year, he knew there was a big gap between him and the next best time, 7:23.09, set by Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999.
But on this day, Ingebrigtsen became the man who made history, as he passed the bell, the green wavelight world record indicators falling out of his pocket and scattering behind him, and pulled away on the final lap.
As the Norwegian driver approached the finish line, he was astonishingly 10 metres away from the snaking green light and put his hands on his head after crossing the finish line.
“It's a special and amazing feeling,” said Ingebrigtsen. “I wanted to attempt the world record here but with all my training I couldn't predict exactly what my time would be. But I never expected to run 7 minutes 17 seconds.”
“At first the pace felt really fast, but gradually I got used to the race and found a good rhythm. 3,000m is a tough distance. I can feel the lactic acid after four or five laps, but I need to run faster.”
“It was tough today with the heat, but that's the same for everyone. My team is great; we used ice vests, we stayed hydrated and we were ready to go.”
“Now I want to try for world records at every distance, but I just take it one step at a time.”
Ethiopia's Belikh Aregawi, an Olympic silver medalist in the 10,000 meters, came in second in 7 minutes 21.28 seconds, good for third-best time of all time.
Duplantis produced his usual performance in the pole vault, winning with a third jump of 6.00m and then quickly went on to world record height, clearing it on his second attempt in an exciting frenzy.
The celebrations were boundless as Olympic silver medalist Sam Kendricks of the United States and bronze medalist Emanouil Karalis of Greece both cleared six meters, a season's best for Kendricks and a national record for Karalis, marking the first time that three swimmers had cleared six meters in the same event.
Silesian Monument Duplantis (© Marta Gorczynska)
Duplantis was awarded the newly created MVP award, given to the athlete who achieves the best performance in the tournament based on World Athletics' points scoring system, and he also received a 14-karat gold and diamond championship ring worth $10,000, as well as a cheque for the same amount.
“It feels strange and unnatural to receive so much love and support from the crowd while competing,” Duplantis said. “It's especially felt in Poland. The energy in this stadium gets stronger every year. I also set my first world record indoors in Torun, Poland, so I have a lot of great memories here.”
“The track here is amazing, the conditions were perfect today and everything went well for me to do this. I know a lot of people came here to see my jumps so I wanted to do well for them. This year I was focused on the Olympics so I was in good shape and the record came naturally. So I'm not surprised by today's record but I'm grateful.”
“The key is to be in shape and believe you can do it. I always want to jump as high as I can and keep trying. I've never felt like I've jumped perfectly, so I always feel like I can do better.”
Under normal circumstances, the standout performance of the day would have been that of Arop, who comfortably defeated Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi.
The 20-year-old had moved into a tie for second on the all-time list three days earlier with a time of 1:41.11 at the Lausanne Diamond League meet, but here he came second to Arop in 1:43.23, behind American Bryce Hoppel, who clocked 1:43.32.
Arop's time was just shy of the 1 minute 41.20 seconds he ran to win Olympic silver earlier this month, but the time moves him to fourth best in history.
“I finally got the win,” Arup said. “I think it's the first time I've beaten Wanyoni since the World Championships last year. It was a good race today and the world record will definitely be broken, I think in Brussels.”
Tamberi's performance in Paris was affected by a last-minute hospitalization with kidney problems, but she surprisingly won the high jump with a personal best of 2.31 metres.
Wherever Tamberi is, there is drama. The 32-year-old Italian admitted on the eve of the meeting that he had no idea how he would do it.
He faced the prospect of clearing it at 2.18 metres but cleared it on his third attempt and cleared 2.26 metres on his second attempt, and after a first failure it looked game over when he passed at 2.29 metres – the same height that Jermaine Beckford of Jamaica had cleared in a personal best on his first try and Ole Doroschuk of Ukraine had cleared on his second try.
But while the latter two could not go any further, Tamberi, spurred on by a huge cheering crowd, cleared 2.31 metres on his second attempt. New Zealand's Olympic high jump champion Hamish Kerr was eliminated with 2.22 metres.
Olympic gold medallist Letsile Tebogo of Botswana was under intense pressure in the 200 metres but powered through the final 20 metres to set a new meet record of 19.83. Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic was second in a new national record of 19.86, and Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek of the United States was third in 20.00.
Dominican Republic's Olympic 400m gold medalist Marileidy Paulino broke the meet record by 48.66 seconds to beat Bahrain's Olympic silver medalist Salwa Eid Nasser, who finished in 49.23 seconds.
Olympic bronze medallist Kaczmarek took third in 49.95 seconds, while Ireland's Rashidat Adeleke took fourth in 50.00 seconds, the same places she took in the Olympic final.
Femke Boll of the Netherlands won the 400m hurdles in a new meet record of 52.13 seconds, while Anna Cockrell of the United States, who beat Boll to win the silver medal at the Paris Olympics, came second in 52.88 seconds.
“The Olympics were tough, of course,” Boll said. “I wanted to run 51 today, but I won and it was a meet record, so I'm happy with the race.”
Diribe Weltegee won the women's 1500m in 3:57.08 ahead of compatriot Freweini Haile in 3:57.88. Third place went to Great Britain's Olympic bronze medallist Georgia Bell in 3:58.11.
Akela Nugent of Jamaica set new meet records in the 100m hurdles in the heats and finals, running 12.30 and 12.29 respectively. Grace Stark of the United States was second in 12.37, two-time world champion Danielle Williams of Jamaica was third in 12.38 and Olympic gold medallist Masai Russell of the United States was fourth in 12.40.
Norway's 400m hurdles world champion and record holder Karsten Warholm, who won silver at the Paris Olympics, finished well outside the meet record of 46.95 seconds and clearly enjoyed being back in winning mode.
Joe Kovacs of the United States, who won silver in Paris and was followed by compatriot Ryan Crowther for a record third time, overturned the record with a best of 22.14m, but the Olympic gold medallist came within two centimetres of matching the record with his next throw, with Italian European champion Leonardo Fabbri third with 22.03m.
Morocco's Olympic steeplechase champion Soufian El Bakari won in a season's best time of 8 minutes 4.29 seconds but nearly lost his pace at the finish line with two challengers closing in. Amos Selam came second in the same time and Samuel Filleu took third in a personal best of 8 minutes 4.34 seconds.
In the women's triple jump, Olympic silver medallist Shanieka Ricketts of Jamaica won with 14.50m, followed by Leyanis Pérez Hernández of Cuba with 14.42m and Daria Derkach of Italy with 14.02m.
In the women's javelin, two-time European silver medalist Adriana Viragos won with a new Serbian record of 65.60 metres, with South Africa's Joan van Dyk second with 62.81 metres.
In the women's 100 metres, Tia Clayton of Jamaica won in 10.83 seconds, followed by Marie-Josee Tarou Smith of Ivory Coast in the same time.
Three days after being defeated by Rasheed Broadbell in his first post-Olympic race, Olympic gold medalist Grant Holloway barely got revenge by finishing in 13.04 seconds, finishing second to Jamaica's Rasheed Broadbell by 0.01 seconds in a non-scoring event on the program.
Jamaica's Olympic silver medalist Kishane Thompson did not compete in the men's 100m final, which was won by Olympic bronze medalist Fred Curley of the United States in a meet record-tying time of 9.87 seconds.
In other events outside the Diamond League, Kenya's Nelly Chepchirchir set a world-leading and course record in the women's 1,000 metres with a time of 2:31.24, Canadian Olympic hammer throw champion Ethan Katzberg beat a field including five-time world champion Pawel Fajdek of Poland and 2021 Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki with a personal best of 80.03 metres, and 2022 world champion Brooke Andersen of the United States won the women's hammer throw with a time of 76.19 metres.
Mike Rowbottom of World Athletics
