Home hero Mondo Duplantis suffered his first loss in 1052 days as he failed to clear six metres at the Stockholm Diamond League on Sunday (7), allowing Australia’s Kurtis Marschall to take the win.
The Swedish stars’ night started uncharacteristically with a failure at 5.60m before a clearance on his second attempt and a first time clearance at 5.80m.
He then clattered into the bar at six metres, walking off the mat frustrated before taking his second attempt, and still unable to clear a height he has previously made look very easy.
In an attempt to take the win, with Marschall skipping 6.00m, he took his final attempt at 6.05m but was unable to continue his legendary win streak.
But another upset of the evening came in the women’s 800m with the reigning European U23 champion, Audrey Werro, executing the perfect race to not only beat Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson but also go number three all time.
The tall Swiss 22-year-old went out quick before letting Great Britain’s Hodgkinson take a small lead with just 300m to go while she stayed on her shoulder, but in the final stretch Werro pulled ahead to finish in 1:53.98 for her outdoor season opener.
Though, Hodgkinson also set a big PB in her 800m season opener to move up to sixth on the all time list and set the fastest non-winning time in 800m history.
It certainly won’t be the last time the two meet this summer with all roads leading towards the Birmingham 2026 European Athletics Championships where we can expect to see them clash in the final.
Amy Hunt stormed to a European lead of 10.97 in the 100m and a big PB for second behind world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, running sub-11 for the first time.
The Briton had previously found more success in the 200m, taking silver at the world championships last year, but has evidently been working to improve her short sprint speed as she lowered her PB by 0.05 seconds.
Three-time world champion, Daniel Stahl, gave the home crowd the win they were hoping for with his only valid throw of the competition coming in at 69.60m.
Slovenia’s Kristjan Ceh, the reigning European champion, took third with 67.67m while Australia’s Matthew Denny took second with 69.02m.
While world champion, Jessica Schilder, secured another victory on the Diamond League circuit with a meeting record of 20.89m from the fifth round, building on her historic 21.09m in Kequao.
France’s Hilary Kpatcha narrowly grasped the win in the long jump with a third round jump of 6.85m to lead Italy’s Larissa Iapichino who jumped 6.84m in the first round.
The Netherlands’ Jorinde van Klinken, a world and European silver medallist, took second in the discus with 66.57m for her second best in-stadia throw this year.
Charlie Dobson, GB’s 2024 Diamond League final winner, ran his first 400m of the year in 45.15 for fifth in a race that saw South Africa’s Zakithi Nene win in 44.48.
Ben Pattison, Britain’s 2023 world bronze medallist, led the Europeans over the line in the 800m with 1:43.70 to finish fourth overall as teenage sensation Cooper Lutkenhaus won in 1:42.70.