July 7, 2024
Athletics history was rewritten on a spectacular afternoon in Paris on Sunday, as both Faith Kipyegon and Yaroslava Mahuchik set new world records at the eighth Wanda Diamond League tournament of the season.
Mahuchik cleared 2.10m to win the high jump, breaking one of the longest ever world records, while Kipyegon improved his own world record in the 1500m in one of the most hard-fought races in history, finishing with a time of 3:49.04.
This marks the second year in a row that two world records have been set in one day at the Paris Marathon, following the feat achieved by Kipyegon and Lamecha Girma last year.
Ukrainian high jumper Mahuchik fended off the challenge of world indoor champion Nikola Oliaslagels, who cleared the same 2.01m on his second attempt, while Australia’s Oliaslagels failed three times to clear 2.03m, which Mahuchik overcame on his second attempt.
With victory assured, Makhchik raised the bar to 2.07 metres and again cleared it on her second jump, comfortably setting a new Ukrainian record, before raising it to 2.10 metres – one centimetre higher than the world record set by Stevka Kostadinova at the 1987 World Championships – and clearing it on her first jump.
“Going into this competition I had a feeling that I could jump 2.07 meters, maybe 2.10 meters,” said Makhchik. “Finally I have put Ukraine in the history books of world athletics.”
Less than an hour after Mahuchik’s iconic leap, Kipyegon made track history.
Kipyegon returned to the spot where he set his 5,000m world record last year and improved his own 1,500m world record in the final race of the night.
The pace was strong early on, with Kipyegon covering the 800m in 2 minutes 4 seconds, with Australia’s Jess Hull just a step behind the multiple World and Olympic champion. With the pacemaker dropped out, Kipyegon then increased her pace, completing the third lap in 60.8 seconds.
She kicked as the bell rang and extended her lead over Hull to win in 3:49.04, 0.07 seconds faster than the world record she set last year in Florence. Hull came second in 3:50.83, breaking her own Oceania record and moving up to fifth on the world all-time list. Laura Muir came third in a British record time of 3:53.79, marking the first time in history that 12 women have finished under four minutes.
“I knew there was a chance of a world record because I ran some very fast times recently in Kenya,” said Kipyegon, who clocked 3:53.98 at the Kenyan Olympic Trials. “I just came here to run my race and see if I could defend my title at the Olympics.”
Sejati conquers historic 800m deep dive
Both Jamel Sejati and Emmanuel Wanyonyi arrived in Paris undefeated in 800m finals this year, while Gabriel Tual won the European Championships and last weekend in France in a new personal best, but Wanyonyi was considered the favourite after winning the Kenyan Olympic Trials in a world-leading time of 1:41.70.
The pacemakers had been instructed to run the first lap in 49.60 and so the tempo appeared a little too quick when they reached the halfway mark in 48.79, but Wanyoni, Wycliffe Kinyamal, Sejati and Tual were still closely fighting as the pack approached the final back straight.
Wanyonyi led around the final corner with Sejati on his shoulders, while Tual moved into third place with 100 metres to go. Sejati then used his trademark kick to get past Wanyonyi. Wanyonyi fought back and managed to close the gap. Tual was closing in fast from the outside, but Sejati held them both off to win in a world-leading national record time of 1:41.56.
Wanyoni came in a close second in 1:41.58, bettering his recent PR, while Tual took third in a French record time of 1:41.61, the first time in history that three runners had ever finished under 1:42 in the same race and the first time that six runners had finished inside 1:43.
“I’m happy with my race and I’m sure I’ll have a good preparation for the Paris Olympics in the coming weeks,” said Sejati, who came within 0.02 seconds of breaking the course record set by David Rudisha in 2012 just weeks before he won Olympic gold in a world record time. “I’m sure I can do better in Paris.”
World champion wins
In Paris, two world vertical jump records were nearly set in the men’s pole vault when Mondo Duplantis went for 6.25 metres.
World and Olympic champion Duplantis cleared six meters on his second attempt to win the competition, while two-time world champion Sam Kendricks equaled his season’s best of 5.95 meters but was eliminated after three false starts. Duplantis then raised the bar to 6.25 meters, a centimeter higher than the world record he set in Xiamen earlier this year. His third attempt was the closest he came, but that wasn’t to be today.
World steeplechase champion Winfred Yavi was victorious again in his second steeplechase of the year. The Bahraini won in 9:03.68, while European champion Alice Finot beat her own French record in 9:05.01 to the delight of the home crowd. Great Britain’s Elizabeth Bird came third in 9:09.07, with world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech dropping to ninth in the closing stages.
World champion Marileidy Paulino won the women’s 400m in a season’s best time of 49.20, just 0.08 seconds off her own course record set last year. European champion Natalia Kaczmarek came second in 49.82, with 2019 world champion Salwa Eid Naser third in the same time.
Olympic gold medallist Valerie Allman extended her winning streak in the discus, winning in the final round with a throw of 68.07m. Dutch duo Jorinde van Klinken (67.23m) and Alida van Dalen (65.78m) came second and third respectively.
Competition beyond the walls
In one of the closest races of the day, Ethiopia’s Abraham Sime held off Kenya’s Amos Salem by 0.2 seconds to win the steeplechase, with both athletes setting new personal bests of 8 minutes 2.36 seconds.
Abraham Kibiwott took third in a season’s best time (8:06.70), while Tunisia’s Mohamed Amin Zinaoui (8:09.41), New Zealand’s Jordie Beamish (8:09.64, also an Oceania record) and India’s Avinash Sable (8:09.91) set national records.
The men’s 110m hurdles were similarly close. Sasha Joya managed to survive the heats and qualify for the final by a thousandth of a second, but he won in the final in the same time as his personal best of 13.15 (-0.6m/s). Trey Cunningham of the United States came second by five thousandths of a second, and Shunsuke Izumiya of Japan came third in 13.16, the same time as in the heats.
Rachid Murata won the first heat in 13.15 seconds but was unable to compete in the final due to an injury he sustained during warm-up.
The men’s 400m hurdles was also a lot closer than expected, with 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos winning in 47.78 seconds, but the Brazilian was just 0.17 seconds ahead of Estonia’s Rasmus Magi, who came second in a season’s best time of 47.95 seconds.
On the track, Jacob Klopp won the unscored 3,000m in a world-leading time of 7:28.83. Alexander Ogando won the 200m in 19.98 and Luxembourg’s Patricia van der Weken won the 100m in 11.06.
That afternoon, 2022 World Champion and world number one Brooke Andersen got a revenge of sorts after missing out on a spot on the U.S. Olympic team by winning the hammer throw with a meet record of 73.27m. In the men’s event, five-time World Champion Pawel Fajdek won with 77.13m, scoring another confident victory over defending Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki (75.17m).
In other field events, Julian Weber won the men’s javelin with 85.91 metres and Italy’s Larissa Iapicino won the women’s long jump with 6.82 metres.
It was a frustrating day for decathlon world record holder Kevin Mayer, who was competing in the combined event triathlon. He had the best time of the day in the shot put (15.12m), but skipped in the long jump, fell over a hurdle and fell face down on the track screaming in frustration and pain. He got up and walked out, but it was not the performance he had hoped for, just weeks before the Paris 2024 Olympics, where he is the host country’s best hope of winning a medal.
John Mulkeen of World Athletics and the Wanda Diamond League