Armand Duplantis on Tuesday improved his own best pole vault attempt of the year by 1cm to 6.12m at the IAAF Golden Spike athletics meet in the Czech Republic.
The US-born Swedish athlete, the reigning Olympic and world champion, cleared 6.11m in Hengelo, Netherlands, on June 4.
In February, Duplantis set a world record of 6.22m at an indoor meet in France.
Photo: AFP
In the eastern Czech city of Ostrava on Tuesday, the 23-year-old only managed 5.90m at the second attempt on a rather chilly summer day, but he got over 6m with ease as the only pole vaulter left in competition, and then had the bar raised straight to 6.12m which he also cleared at the first attempt.
He then tried 6.17m, but failed as he hones his form ahead of this year’s world championships in Budapest starting on Aug. 19.
“I think 6.12 was pretty much about the highest I was going to make today,” Duplantis said. “I’m pretty satisfied. I liked the way I was jumping.”
“The jump at 6.12 was good, it was good for the day. It was a little bit colder than I would have liked today,” he added.
Also at Ostrava, South Africa’s Akani Simbine won the men’s 100m in 9.98 seconds ahead of Italy’s European 60m indoor champion Samuele Ceccarelli, in 10.15 seconds.
Canada’s Olympic 200m champion Andre de Grasse rounded out the podium in third with a season’s best of 10.21 seconds.
Ethiopian Lamecha Girma, the world record holder in the 3,000m steeplechase, won the 1,500m with a personal best of 3 minutes, 33.15 seconds, while Girma’s teammate Diribe Welteji clocked 3 minutes, 57.38 seconds to win the women’s 1,500m as three Ethiopians took the podium with times under 4 minutes.
Reigning Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico claimed victory in the women’s 100m hurdles in 12.42 seconds.
She beat Nia Ali of the US and Nigerian world record holder and reigning world champion Tobi Amusan, with all three sandwiched within 0.05 seconds.
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