Pole vault world record holder Armand Duplantis has suffered his first defeat in more than a year. The 22-year-old athlete from Sweden did not get past 5.81 meters at the Diamond League meeting in Brussels and finished second behind World Cup third-placed Ernest John Obiena (Philippines), who was the only one to jump the following height of 5.91 meters . Olympic champion Duplantis, who had improved the world record to 6.21 meters in his World Cup triumph in Eugene in July, had not finished first in August 2021 at the meeting in Lausanne. Since then he had celebrated 20 victories. World Championship fifth Oleg Zernikel (Landau) was seventh in Brussels with 5.61 meters.
The most spectacular performance on Friday evening was provided by high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchich, who broke the Ukrainian record with 2.05 meters and is now tenth in the all-time best list.