World record-holder Armand Duplantis narrowly preserved his unbeaten streak in 2020 at the Karlstad GP, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze Meeting, on Wednesday (8) evening.
In far from ideal conditions, Duplantis needed three attempts at his opening height of 5.52m. The Swede passed the next height of 5.62m and only eked out the victory with another third time clearance at 5.72m. Duplantis felt physically capable of going higher but he elected to retire from the competition after the conditions deteriorated.
“Physically I felt good, but the weather didn't allow me [to go higher],” Duplantis told SVT after the competition. “I had higher expectations today.”
Belgian record-holder Ben Broeders finished second on countback with 5.62m, just ahead of Poland’s Piotr Lisek in third. Lisek will be in action in Karlstad again this evening when he takes on world champion Sam Kendricks and Valentin Lavillenie as part of the virtual Impossible Games.
World champion Daniel Stahl won the discus with 68.10m but he was pushed once again by his teammate and training partner Simon Pettersson who concluded his competition with 66.80m in the fifth round and 66.90m in the sixth round.
But despite achieving his second best mark of the season, Stahl was largely displeased with his form. His second best mark of the competition was measured at 66.07m. “It's too bad, but it will be better soon,” said Stahl who holds the world lead with 70.25m.
Khaddi Sagnia produced another of the meeting’s highlights. The Swede already holds the world lead in the long jump with 6.81m but she approached this distance in Karlstad, reaching out to 6.76m in cold and wet conditions. Her teammate Thobias Montler also surpassed the eight metre-line in the men’s long jump with 8.02m.
The meeting also featured some good middle distance action on the men’s side. European silver medallist Andreas Kramer opened his outdoor season with victory in the 800m in 1:46.95 and 5000m specialist Suldan Hassan won the 1500m in 3:40.12 from Emil Danielsson (3:40.74) and Andreas Almgren (3:41.01).
Full results here.
Korte clocks 12.76 in Jyvaskyla
Annimari Korte came close to regaining the world lead in the 100m hurdles at the Jyvaskyla GP, a European Athletics Outdoor Area Permit Meeting, on Wednesday (8) evening.
The world leading mark now belongs to European champion Elvira Herman from Belarus at 12.73 but Korte came within 0.03 of that mark and was only 0.04 outside her Finnish record which she set last year. “I knew that even when I ran 12.81 and 12.82 in Espoo [on 27 June], there was still a lot wrong in those runs,” she analysed.
The top three all broke the 13 second-barrier in the final. Reetta Hurske was second in 12.91 with Nooralotta Neziri third in 12.95. Neziri was the fastest in the heats with 12.84.
Multi-eventer Maria Huntington also showed good form in a special triathlon competition. Huntington clocked 13.37 in the 100m hurdles and 24.45 in the 200m and also cleared 1.85m in the high jump. She tallied 3048 points ahead of Miia Siilman who chalked up 2894 points across the three events.
Other highlights included Samueli Samuelsson winning the 100m in 10.28, Topi Raitanen winning the 1500m in 3:40.35 and Aaron Kangas winning the hammer with 75.24m.
Full results here.