TOKYO; The third day of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo was a day of two halves. Favourites in the field added more titles to their tallies, while on the road and track, breakthrough stars had their time to shine.

Mondo Duplantis ensured the day ended on a sensational high as he improved his world pole vault record to 6.30m*, while the morning began with a historic run by Alphonce Felix Simbu as he became Tanzania’s first ever global gold medallist, winning the marathon.

Camryn Rogers moved to second on the world all-time list to retain her hammer title, while Geordie Beamish ended Soufiane El Bakkali’s steeplechase streak and Ditaji Kambundji stormed to a 100m hurdles win.

Duplantis cleared 6.30m* on his return to Tokyo, setting the 14th world pole vault record of his career at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 on Monday (15).

Back at the scene of his first senior global title win in 2021, the Swedish star managed his latest world record on his third and final attempt to claim his third consecutive World Championships crown and his eighth major senior international title in front of a packed and passionate crowd at the Japan National Stadium.

In a competition of record depth, Emmanouil Karalis of Greece cleared 6.00m to secure silver and Kurtis Marschall equalled his PB of 5.95m to clinch bronze on countback.

It is the first time that seven men have ever cleared 5.90m or higher in a single competition, and the first time that 5.95m has not been enough for a medal.

“It’s better than I could have imagined,” said Duplantis. “To give you guys this world record is amazing. The crowd were so loud. Thank you so much. I’m just so happy.”

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