Sweden's Armand Duplantis won the men's pole vault with 6.00m at the World Athletics Shanghai/Suzhou Diamond League track and field athletics meet on Saturday, far below his record-extending win of 6.24m at the season opener a week ago in Xiamen, southeast China's Fujian Province.
The 24-year-old refreshed the world record for the eighth time last week, slicing 1cm off of his previous record (6.23m) from the Diamond League 2023 Final in Eugene, Oregon, U.S.
On Saturday, he attempted 6.25m three times and came very close on the last try, but had to settle for a meet record of 6.00m, which was enough to earn him back-to-back titles in the opening meets of the new season.
Armand Duplantis in action during the men's pole vault final at the World Athletics Diamond League athletics meet in Suzhou, east China's Jiangsu Province, April 27, 2024. /CFP
"I felt great today, really good. To jump six meters today and complete a very successful tour, I have a lot of good takeaways," said Duplantis.
"I just feel that conditions have to be perfect for me to jump a world record and I wasn't quite feeling it off the runway tonight. Now I go back home and train for a few weeks until my next competition in Ostrava," he added.
Meanwhile, in the women's discus, Olympic champion Valarie Allman of the U.S. finished first with a season-best 69.86m, followed by local Feng Bin and Cuba's Yaime Perez.
"I've enjoyed an awesome trip in China. It was great to have two stacked back-to-back fields," said Allman. "Conditions were good today and it has been very motivating. My technique was a little bit off today, so to still get the win was very encouraging."
In the men's long jump, China's Wang Jianan finished second and was only 0.01m short of American Marquis Dendy's gold medal distance. China's other long jumper Shi Yuhao came third.
In the women's shot put, China's Song Jiayuan won bronze behind Chase Jackson of the U.S. and Sarah Mitton of Canada, while home favorite and Olympic champion Gong Lijiao missed the podium.
In the men's 100m, Akani Simbine of South Africa bested title favorites Christian Coleman and Fred Kerley of the U.S. in 10.01 seconds.
In the hurdles' finals, American Daniel Roberts and Puerto Rican Jasmine Camacho-Quinn won the men's 110m and women's 100m in 13.12 seconds and 12.63 seconds, respectively.