Armand “Mondo” Duplantis was the headline act as a trio of modern-day track and field greats starred on an electrifying night of action at the World Athletic Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, on Saturday.
Duplantis was pushed all the way by Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis in a battle royale before bagging a third world indoor pole vault gold with a best of 6.15m.
“We put on a good show for everybody,” said Duplantis. “It’s great to be pushed and I’m happy for Manolo [Karalis]. I had to grind for it tonight.”
Photo: AFP
“It’s good for me especially, and it’s just great competition. It’s just such a higher level than what pole vault’s ever been, so it’s good. You just have to want it,” he said.
It was a truly pulsating competition, echoed in the men’s 3,000m won by a hair’s breadth by Norway’s multi-medaled Jakob Ingebrigtsen, incredibly for his first world indoor title.
“My competitors study me, but you have to race many times to be able to respond in all scenarios,” said Ingebrigtsen, who pipped Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi at the line in a dramatic, fast-finishing race.
“I’ve done a lot of racing, but I’m not perfect. It’s all about learning. The more you race, the more you learn, so you can make the right decisions at the right point to increase the possibility of winning,” he said. “I don’t enjoy the 1,500m warm-up, but the racing is a lot of fun, and that’s what I’m going to do tomorrow — have a lot of fun.”
The third of the stellar trio on show was Grant Holloway, the US athlete claiming an unprecedented third successive 60m hurdles victory that extended his indoor win streak to 94 races dating back a remarkable 11 years to when he was 16 years old.
“This one was a little bit different,” Holloway said. “I didn’t have two great rounds and had to rely on my experience to get me through the final, but I knew what I had to do, I knew what I was missing.”
Switzerland’s Mujinga Kambundji produced a savage dip to regain the 60m crown she last won in Belgrade in 2022, clocking 7.04 seconds to see off Italy’s European champion Zaynab Dosso by two-hundredths of a second.
“Every win is always good for the confidence,” the Swiss racer said. “It shows me that we’re doing a lot of things right, because not every year is the same. You can’t just take one recipe and do it every year.”
“You always have to adapt on how you feel, so I’m really happy to see that my coach can feel what I need, and we can do what’s optimal for me,” she said.
Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu won the women’s 3,000m in 8:37.21, the US’ Shelby Houlihan — just two months after returning from a four-year doping ban — edging Austrian Jessica Hull for silver by two-hundredths.
There was a Cuban one-two in the women’s triple jump, Leyanis Perez Hernandez taking gold with a first-effort 14.93m ahead of Liadagmis Povea and Spain’s Ana Peleteiro-Compaore.
Amber Anning ensured a first British gold in the women’s 400m by edging the US’ Alexis Holmes by three-hundredths for the win in 50.60sec, Norway’s Henriette Jaeger taking bronze.
The US men made up for Holmes’ silver by sweeping the men’s 400m, Christopher Bailey winning in 45.08sec ahead of Brian Faust and Jacory Patterson.
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday turned tennis heartbreak into history by becoming the first lucky loser to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final with her thrilling 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova at the Madrid Open, as Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei exited in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The Russian-born Austrian, who lost in qualifying last week, has capitalized on her unexpected main draw entry and stunned former world No. 1 Pliskova in a roller-coaster clash despite squandering three match points. Potapova’s run has included impressive victories over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina. Asked if she had thought
RSS