XIAMEN, CHINA, April 20 — The ’24 Wanda Diamond League campaign got the series off to its earliest start yet, and Mondo Duplantis picked up exactly where he left off in last season’s finale. He improved the World Record he set in Eugene in September, clearing 20-5½ (6.24) on a warm and humid evening at Egret Stadium in Xiamen, a port city in southeast China that joined the DL circuit last year.
The 24-year-old Swede clinched the competition at 19-1 (5.82), going over on his first attempt while his American pal Sam Kendricks needed two tries and then couldn’t navigate 19-8¼ (6.00). Duplantis made that height on his initial try, then had the bar moved a single centimeter above the 20-5¼ (6.23) he had reached at the DL Final.
The Louisiana-born Duplantis went over smoothly on his first attempt with room to spare to notch the eighth WR of his career. The timing of record No. 8 is appropriate in that the number is so associated in Chinese culture with good fortune that August 08, 2008 was chosen as the opening date for the Beijing Olympics.
“No real wind, great energy from the crowd, so pretty much everything added up to what I needed for me to jump high today,” Mondo said of his decision to go for the record. “So it was just basically up for me to go do it and I was able to do it.”
Though it’s early in the outdoor season — with nearly 4 months to go before his primary goal for the year, winning his second Olympic gold in Paris — disappointment in his winter campaign provided motivation in Xiamen. In March Duplantis defended his World Indoor title in Glasgow after nearly exiting the competition at the routine (for him) height of 19-2½ (5.85).
“The indoor season was a little sloppier than I would have liked,” he admitted, “so I brought a little bit of fire into this outdoor season. Obviously I had some fire in me today. I wanted to break the World Record indoors so I think that carried over to this meet.”
In a battle of past 100-meter world champions, Christian Coleman (the ’19 winner) caught Fred Kerley (the ’22 gold medalist) at halfway and won, 10.13–10.17 into a slight wind (-0.6).
World champion Marco Arop of Canada won the 800 with a well-timed lean to hold off Kenya’s hard-charging Wycliffe Kinyamal, 1:43.61–1:43.66. Botswana’s Tshepiso Masalela, who finished 6th in Budapest, followed closely with a PR of 1:43.88.
American Shelby McEwen survived a shaky start in the men’s high jump — needing two attempts at 7-2½ (2.20) and 7-4¼ (2.24) — to win with a first-attempt clearance of 7-5¼ (2.27). Qatar’s Mutaz Barshim, perhaps missing the typical DL season opener at home in Doha, got over on his third try.
Other winners included American Daniel Roberts (110H in 13.12), Ethiopia’s Lamecha Girma (5000 in 12:58.96) and Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo (triple jump in 57-5½/17.51).
XIAMEN DL MEN’S RESULTS
100(-0.6): 1. Christian Coleman (US) 10.13; 2. Fred Kerley (US) 10.17; 3. Ackeem Blake (Jam) 10.20; 4. Rohan Watson (Jam) 10.27; 5. Ryo Wada (Jpn) 10.31; 6. Ronnie Baker (US) 10.33; 7. Yoshihide Kiryu (Jpn) 10.38; 8. Brandon Carnes (US) 10.40; 9. Yohan Blake (Jam) 10.43.
800: 1. Marco Arop (Can) 1:43.61 (WL);
2. Wycliffe Kinyamal (Ken) 1:43.66; 3. Tshepiso Masalela (Bot) 1:43.88 PR; 4. Alex Kipngetich (Ken) 1:44.76; 5. Andreas Kramer (Swe) 1:44.81; 6. Elias Ngeny (Ken) 1:45.37; 7. Clayton Murphy (US) 1:45.38; 8. Abdellatif El Guesse (Mor) 1:45.65; 9. Dezhu Liu (Chn) 1:45.66 NR;… rabbit—Patryk Sieradzki (Pol) (50.21).
5000: 1. Lamecha Girma (Eth) 12:58.96 PR (out WL);
2. Nicholas Kipkorir (Ken) 12:59.78 (7:53.70, 10:31.25); 3. Birhanu Balew (Bhr) 13:00.47; 4. Samwel Chebolei (Ken) 13:00.69 PR; 5. Addisu Yihune (Eth) 13:01.44; 6. Cornelius Kemboi (Ken) 13:02.49; 7. Ronald Kwemoi (Ken) 13:02.56 PR; 8. Kuma Girma (Eth) 13:04.45; 9. Benson Sigei (Ken) 13:04.66; 10. Stewart McSweyn (Aus) 13:05.18; 11. Muktar Edris (Eth) 13:10.40; 12. Brian Fay (Ire) 13:14.97; 13. Mohamed Abdilaahi (Ger) 13:18.45; 14. Jack Rayner (Aus) 13:18.74;… rabbits—Mounir Akbache (Fra) (2:36.66), Callum Davies (Aus) (5:12.71).
110H(-0.3): 1. Daniel Roberts (US) 13.11 (WL);
2. Cordell Tinch (US) 13.16; 3. Shunsuke Izumiya (Jpn) 13.17; 4. Freddie Crittenden (US) 13.30; 5. Eric Edwards (US) 13.31; 6. Hansle Parchment (Jam) 13.33; 7. Junxi Liu (Chn) 13.48; 8. Orlando Bennett (Jam) 13.58; 9. Jamal Britt (US) 13.88.
Field Events
HJ: 1. Shelby McEwen (US) 7-5¼ (2.27) (missed 2.31/7-7) ; 2. Mutaz Barshim (Qat) 7-5¼; 3. Hamish Kerr (NZ) 7-4¼ (2.24); 4. tie, Joel Baden (Aus), Tomohiro Shinno (Jpn) & Zhen Wang (Chn) 7-4¼; 7. Christoffe Bryan (Jam) 7-2½ (2.20); 8. Luis Castro (PR) 7-½ (2.15); 9. Vernon Turner (US) 7-½;… nh—Thomas Carmoy (Bel).
PV: 1. Mondo Duplantis (Swe) 20-5½ (6.24) WR (old WR 20-5¼/6.23 Duplantis ’23) (18-5¼, 19-1, 19-8¼, 20-5½) (5.62, 5.82, 6.00, 6.24);
2. Sam Kendricks (US) 19-1 (5.82) (17-9¼ [2], 18-5¼, 18-9¼, 19-1 [2], 19-8¼ [xxx]) (5.42 [2], 5.62, 5.72, 5.82 [2], 6.00 [xxx]); 3. Bokai Huang (Chn) 18-9¼ (5.72); 4. tie, Tao Zhong (Chn) & Austin Miller (US) 18-5¼ (5.62); 6. tie, Jacob Wooten (US), Chris Nilsen (US) & Ben Broeders (Bel) 17-9¼ (5.42);… nh—Bo Kanda Lita Baehre (Ger).
TJ: 1. Pedro Pichardo (Por) 57-5½ (17.51) (57-¼, f, f, f, p, 57-5½) (17.38, f, f, f, p, 17.51); 2. Hugues Fabrice Zango (Bur) 56-2 (17.12); 3. Wen Su (Chn) 55-2¼ (16.82); 4. Yaoqing Fang (Chn) 54-10¾ (16.73); 5. Yaming Zhu (Chn) 54-3¾ (16.55); 6. Jean-Marc Pontvianne (Fra) 54-0 (16.46); 7. Tiago Pereira (Por) 53-10¼ (16.41); 8. Abdulla Narangolintevida (Ind) 53-7 (16.33); 9. Donald Scott (US) 52-6¾ (16.02).