Sweden’s Armand Duplantis reacts in the course of the Males’s Pole Vault Remaining.
| Picture Credit score: Reuters
Armand “Mondo” Duplantis cruised to pole vault victory within the opening Diamond League assembly of the season on Saturday (Might 16, 2026), however failed to enhance his personal world file.
There was a shock within the males’s 100m as Present Leotlela of South Africa pipped Ferdinand Omanyala and Kenneth Bednarek in a photograph end to win a Diamond League occasion for the primary time.
Excessive-quality ladies’s 200m and 100m hurdles have been received by Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson and Olympic champion Masai Russell respectively, however Karsten Warholm was shocked within the 300m hurdles.
Duplantis already had victory sewn up within the pole vault after simply two jumps earlier than he eased to a brand new Shanghai assembly file in 6.12m.
The Swede, who has not misplaced a contest since 2023, then raised the bar to a world file 6.32m however failed with all three makes an attempt to beat his outdated mark.
Duplantis informed AFP he felt the file had been attainable.
“I really feel actually good leaping proper now,” mentioned Duplantis, who has lengthened his run-up by two paces this season.
“I might say body-wise I used to be a bit bit too busy the previous few weeks. However aside from that I’m proud of the best way I carried out.”
Norway’s Warholm clocked two world bests within the little-raced 300m hurdles final season however was shocked by 0.04sec by Brazil’s Alison Dos Santos (33.01).
“I’m a bit bit mad that I didn’t win,” mentioned Warholm.
“I believe he was actually beginning to get drained and I assumed possibly I had him there. That is how competing ought to be, it is best to by no means know the result.”
Leotlela mentioned his males’s 100m victory in 9.97sec had been the proper begin to his outside yr.
“I believe tonight units the tone for the remainder of the season,” he mentioned. “I’m very completely satisfied, excited for what’s to return.”
American Bednarek was simply a hundredth of a second behind Leotlela in third, given the identical 9.98sec time as Kenya’s Omanyala.
“I really feel fairly good,” mentioned Bednarek, the 200m silver medallist on the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“I didn’t execute what I needed to within the first half of the race however I’m proud of the outcomes.”
‘Keep wholesome’
Jamaica’s Jackson crossed the road within the 200m in 22.07 to beat Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas (22.26), who was working her first Diamond League race for 3 years, with American Anavia Battle third in 22.40.
“This yr, I simply need to keep wholesome,” mentioned Jackson.
“Subsequent season’s a world championship yr, so I simply need to keep as wholesome as attainable.”
Former world 100m world champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the US may solely end fourth in 20.42 and world silver medallist Amy Hunt of Nice Britain was fifth.
Jessica Schilder recorded the efficiency of the night time as she propelled the shot to a Diamond League file and have become the primary girl to exceed 21 metres since 1999.
The Dutchwoman launched her large 21.09m effort within the fifth spherical to relegate two-time world champion Chase Jackson (20.46) to second place.
“I can’t comprehend. It’s such an enormous factor, it’s loopy,” Schilder mentioned of breaking the 21-metre barrier.
Within the ladies’s 100m hurdles, the American Russell’s very good 12.25 was ok to beat Bahamian world indoor champion Devynne Charlton (12.38), with world file holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria third in 12.41.
Mark English’s late burst snatched a dramatic males’s 800m with a gathering file of 1:43.85.
The 33-year-old Irishman dipped previous Botswana’s Kethobogile Haingura on the road, having come from six runners again within the last 30 metres.
Within the males’s 110m hurdles, Jamal Britt upset his fellow American and world champion Cordell Tinch to win with a private best-equalling 13.07sec.
Printed – Might 17, 2026 05:10 am IST