Perennial record breaker Mondo Duplantis claimed his third consecutive title at the FBK Games Continental Tour Gold meet in Hengelo, Netherlands, on Sunday (4 June). Duplantis improved on the meeting record he set in 2021 by a centimetre to claim victory with a height of 6.11 metres.
The super Swede wrenched the world lead away from American KC Lightfoot, who set a North American pole vault record of 6.07m in Nashville on Friday. After eclipsing his previous best in Hengelo, Duplantis took a stab at breaking the world record of 6.22m he set in Clermont-Ferrand, France, earlier this year.
“I would say this result is really close from what I expected today. I know that I am in a good shape,” Duplantis said.
“We had some trouble with the wind, but I managed to get enough wind to jump 6.11m, so I am really happy about that.”
Femke Bol sets meeting record in flat 400m
Dutch sensation Femke Bol delivered the goods in front of her home crowd setting a new meeting record in her first outdoor flat 400m with a time of 50.11 seconds.
The 400m hurdles specialist has shown she was equally adept over the flat one-lap sprint event after setting the track on fire during the indoor season.
Bol set a world record of 49.26 seconds in the indoor 400m at the Dutch Indoor Championships, improving the global mark Jarmila Kratochvílová set in 1982.
The world silver medallist posted a world lead of 52.43s in the hurdles event at the Diamond League meeting in Florence two days earlier.
On Sunday evening, Bol finished ahead of America’s Wadeline Jonathas (51.74s) in second place, with Laura Muller of Germany taking third place in 52.08s.
Although Bol is consistently fast over the flat 400m, boasting a national record of 49.44s, she has her eyes firmly set on the hurdles.
“I am extremely happy with the race, and I was excited to running here today. The crowd was amazing. The supporters really helped me to go faster, especially in the last hundred metres,” Bol said.
“For the coming outdoor season, I am focused on the hurdles, and these are going great: that is the most important.”
Sifan Hassan grabs double win
The meeting had a deep orange tinge with another Dutch superstar, Sifan Hassan, giving the local fans plenty to cheer about winning both the 10,000m and the 1500m events. The double Olympic champion won the 10,000m in a world lead of 29:37.80 on Saturday before winning the 1500m on Sunday.
Hassan’s double gold performance at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Stadium comes less than six weeks after winning the London Marathon in her debut over the distance.
“My legs are hurting after yesterday. I have not slept very well, and I feel like having a jetlag. The last 200m I have sprinted, which is good for me to have some sprinting again after the London Marathon,” Hassan said.
“I was scared for the last part of the race, since I have not run a 1500m in two years’ time. I have not decided which distances I will run in Budapest, so who knows.”
Italian teen sensation Mattia Furlani wins long jump event
In the men’s long jump, 18-year-old Mattia Furlani set a new Italian U20 record with an 8.24m leap, missing out on the qualification for the Worlds in Budapest by just one centimetre.
Despite the headwind (-0.7m/s), Furlani upset Cheswill Johnson of South Africa (8.08) and JuVaughn Harrison of the USA (8.07) to improve his personal best by a whopping 20 centimetres.
The double European U18 champion recently produced a phenomenal 8.44m leap in Savona, Italy, but the mark didn’t count for record purposes because the wind was just above the legal limit at 2.2 m/s.