A
Alfonz Juck
Guest
Werro and Arop shine, Duplantis outdoor WL
PARIS (FRA, Jun 28): A full crowd of 18,500 created a very dynamic atmosphere at the Paris DL meeting. It brought 3 DL records, 4 World leads, 4 Meet records, and 2 Area records. Huge quality in many events, but mainly a close WR attempt for Audrey Werro in the 800 m; Noah Lyles lost the 100 m, and Jimmy Gressier was not able to attack the 5000 m win. Apart from Werro, another impressive mark by Arop. And at the end nobody left, and a full stadium watched Duplantis’ WR attempts in the pole vault.
Event by event reviews
Women
400m: Marileidy Paulino ran her third fastest time in history with 48.48, a world lead and a Diamond League record. Lurdes Gloria Manuel improved to a European lead of 49.37 PB with Jamaica’s Stacey Ann Williams 49.51.
800m: Third fastest time in history! Audrey Werro improved her world lead, Diamond League record, and NR to 1:53.80, becoming the first athlete in history to record multiple sub-1:54 clockings. Femke Broeders-Bol improved to 1:55.60 in just her fourth race at the distance to come within 0.06 of Ellen Van Langen’s Dutch record while Anais Bourgoin smashed the long-standing French record with 1:55.65 in third. The top six all set PBs, including Sarah Billings who set an Oceanian record of 1:57.01 in sixth.
Audrey Werro, SUI, wins Paris in 1:53.80 NR, photo by Diamond League AG
1500m: Georgia Hunter Bell held off Freweyni Hailu down the home straight, 3:55.63 season best to 3:55.92 with Agathe Guillemot third in a French record of 3:56.24. The top seven all broke the 4:00-barrier, including Bahrain’s Nelly Jepkosgei (3:57.61 PB) and Portugal’s Patricia Silva (3:58.74) in sixth and seventh.
100m hurdles: Victory for Tobi Amusan in 12.28 (0.7) ahead of the US duo of Grace Stark (12.38) and Alaysha Johnson (12.39), season’s bests for all three, Nadine Visser fourth (12.41 EL).
Pole vault: Angelica Moser cleared 4.77m for victory over Eliza McCartney (4.70m) and Olympic champion Nina Kennedy (4.70m) before taking a heavy fall at her one attempt at 4.90m.
Shot put: Sarah Mitton took a narrow victory with 19.99m ahead of Yemisi Mabry (19.93m) with Jessica Schilder only third (19.88m).
Javelin: Another Diamond League win for China’s Yan Ziyi with 67.44m ahead of Adriana Vilagos (63.83m) and Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi (63.01m), both season best.
Men
100m: Trayvon Bromell won from the outside lane in 9.91 (0.1) ahead of Noah Lyles (9.92) with Marcell Jacobs continuing his return to form in third in a 9.96 season’s best. Akani Simbine (9.97) and Jordan Anthony (9.99) also broke the 10-second barrier in fourth and fifth, respectively, top 7 timed within 0.11sec.
400m: Collen Kebinatshipi pulled clear for victory in a Diamond League record of 43.54, just 0.01 shy of his winning time from Tokyo 2025. Zakithi Nene also broke the 44-second barrier in second with 43.89 and Chris Bailey third (44.06 PB). Matthew Hudson-Smith was fourth in a 2026 European lead of 44.09.
800m: Marco Arop just faded off world record pace in the home straight but still held on for a world lead of 1:41.84. Niels Laros, who was initially due to race in the 1500m, ran a 1:43.60 PB in second with Tobias Gronstad third in 1:43.63.
1500m (non-DL): Cameron Myers improved his world lead to 3:28.00, also an Oceanian record. Azeddine Habz and Jake Wightman also broke the 3:30 barrier with 3:29.80 and 3:29.95 in second and third, respectively.
5000m: Grant Fisher ran a last lap of 54.62 to win in 12:54.80 in a sprint finish from Jacob Krop (12:55.22) and Andreas Almgren (12:55.38) with Burundi’s Egide Ntakarutimana fourth in a 12:56.06 NR. Jimmy Gressier faded back to seventh in 12:57.79. The top-10 all broke the 13-minute barrier.
3000m steeplechase: Surprise win for Germany’s Karl Bebendorf in 8:05.55 ahead of Ethiopia’s Gemechu Godana in 8:05.86, lifetime bests for both. Kenya’s Edmund Serem was third in 8:08.54.
110m hurdles: Jamal Britt slashed his PB from 12.98 to 12.89 (0.8) to come within 0.01 of Dayron Robles’ long-standing meeting record and move to equal tenth on the world all-time list. Japan’s Shunsuke Izumiya was second in 13.01 and Trey Cunningham third in 13.07 (13.06/-0.8 in heats), while Belgium’s Michael Obasuyi was fourth in a NR and European lead of 13.10 (also a NR of 13.16/0.2 in his heat).
Pole vault: Armand Duplantis was back to winning form with a meeting record and outdoor world lead of 6.13m before three attempts at a world record of 6.32m. Baptiste Thiery cleared a 5.93m PB to finish second on home soil, with Emmanouil Karalis third with 5.83m on countback ahead of four more vaulters with the same height.