Swedish-American Armand Duplantis broke the indoor world record in the pole vault by vaulting 6.18-metres. Meanwhile, Ababel Yeshaneh ran a half-marathon in the time of one hour, four minutes and 31 seconds. World Athletics announced today that both records have officially been rectified.
On February 15, a month before the coronavirus pandemic caused the cancellation of nearly every event on the spring athletics calendar, he achieved a height of 6.18m in Glasgow, which is just one centimetre higher than the vault one week prior in Torun, Poland.
“I felt like I was over it and once I was going over I knew I had it,” he said. “You can’t tell how far away you are from the bar but it felt like a good jump from the get-go.”
He continues to hold the world U20 outdoor record with his 2018 vault of 6.05m.
Last fall, he earned a silver medal during the Doha World Athletics Championships with a best of 5.97m. He is also the 2018 European Champion from Berlin with a 6.05m performance.
He competes for Sweden.
Half-marathon record
On February 21, Yeshaneh ran the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon and took 20 seconds off the previous world record which was held by Kenyan Joyciline Jepkosgei from the 2017 running of the Valencia Half Marathon.
“I didn’t imagine this result,” said Yeshaneh, whose previous best of 1:05:46 had stood as the Ethiopian record for a five-month period between 2018 and 2019. “I am a world record holder!”
The now 29-year-old has run the marathon in the time of 2:20:51 at the 2019 Chicago Marathon. She has also run 30:35.91 in the 10,000m, and 14:41.58 for 5000m.
The previous women’s Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon record was 64:52 and was set by Fancy Chemutai of Kenya.
The half marathon takes place in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. The event was established in 2007. Currently, just over 3,000 participants take in the flat and fast race.
The men’s record is 58:42, which is shared by Bedan Karoki and Stephen Kiprop from the 2018 and 2019 runnings, respectively.
SHOESTRINGS: The Wanda Diamond League resumes in Stockholm this weekend, after a terrific start in Monaco, the week prior.
Duplantis will be competing in the Bauhau-Galan meeting in the Swedish city on the 23rd.
Read about it here: World Athletics preview.
