When the Diamond League season started in record time, Armand Duplantis showed that he is already in world record form. Duplantis opened her outdoor season by clearing 6.24, eclipsing her own world record by one centimeter. Andreas Kramer was also responsible for a strong start to the season.
Our two medalists from the indoor WC, Armand Duplantis and Andreas Kramerwas present in Xiamen, China when the season’s first Diamond League competition was decided.
In the men’s pole, Upsala IF’s Duplantis met the Americans Sam Kendricks and Christopher Nielsen, where Nielsen’s competition ended already in 5.62. Duplantis went in at 5.62 which he cleared right away and he then didn’t jump until the bar was raised to 5.82. The Swede passed 5.82 easily and caught up with Kendricks who passed in the second attempt.
After 5.82, only Duplantis and Kendricks remained in the competition and the bar was raised to 6.00. Duplantis passed in the first attempt, while the American ripped three times and was out of the competition.
The Swede raised the bar at 6.24, a new world record height. In the first attempt, he was high over and thus broke the eighth world record of his career. The most recent world record was set by Duplantis seven months ago at the Diamond League finals in Eugene.
– It felt good today with perfect weather and no wind. It was good with energy from the audience and I felt good in my body. I had a little fire in me after the indoor season which didn’t turn out the way I wanted, says Mondo Duplantis.
– You get a blackout when you break a world record and you just go crazy and scream. I knew I was in good shape but there are so many factors in jumping a world record. Now I’m going to enjoy this but focus on the future.
Career best season opener by Andreas Kramer
Ullevi’s Andreas Kramer won silver at the indoor WC seven weeks ago and was selected for the Olympics in Paris on Wednesday. In China, he had his fastest season opener ever in the 800 meters when he finished fifth in 1:44.81.
Kramer was far behind in the field for a long time but finished, just like at the indoor WC, strongly and picked up several places in the race. The world champion from Budapest this summer, Marco Arop of Canada, won the race in 1:43.61.
– It feels strange to be on the track again. I haven’t done any pre-race training at all, so I don’t really know what I did to make it go so fast today, says Andreas Kramer.
The time is Andreas’ sixth fastest in his career, his Swedish record of 1:44.47 is from 2020.
See all results from Diamond League in Xiamen here.
