Stockholm Diamond League: Duplantis suffers first defeat in nearly two years as Marschall triumphs

Australia’s Kurtis Marschall produced one of the biggest upsets of the season at the Stockholm Diamond League, defeating Olympic champion Armand Duplantis and ending the Swedish star’s remarkable streak of 40 consecutive victories in men’s pole vault.

Competing in front of his home crowd, Duplantis arrived in Stockholm hoping to break his own world record of 6.31m for a 16th time. Instead, the Olympic and world champion endured a rare off day, settling for second place after failing to clear six metres or a final attempt at 6.05m.

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Marschall capitalised on the opportunity, clearing 5.90m on his third attempt to secure a memorable victory and hand Duplantis his first defeat since July 2023.

“It was time to lose, it was a very long time (since the last time). I can’t fathom that I won 40 in a row, it’s pretty sick, but it’s also sick that I lose in Stockholm, which is the most important competition of the year for me,” Duplantis told Swedish broadcaster SVT, as per Reuters.

“This is not the last time I will lose, but I hope it’s the last time I lose in Stockholm. I’m going to make sure of that, that it doesn’t happen again,” he added.

The competition got off to an uneasy start for the Swede, who failed his opening attempt at 5.60m. Although he recovered to clear the height on his second try and comfortably negotiated 5.80m, he was unable to find his usual rhythm as the bar was raised.

Despite the disappointment, Duplantis remained philosophical and hinted that his focus may have been partly on his upcoming wedding.

“You’re either lucky in love or lucky in life. The wedding is soon, so maybe it’s a huge silver lining to the whole thing,” the Swede said. “It’s a shame, because I really didn’t want to have a bad performance here in Stockholm, where so many support me and give me love.”

In the women’s category at the Diamond League meeting, world champion Melissa Jefferson Wooden claimed victory in the women’s 100 metres with a time of 10.84 seconds.

Emerging as the only athlete in the field to break the 20-second mark, American sprinter Kenny Bednarek dominated the men’s 200m, clocking 19.87 seconds.

One of the standout performances of the day came in the men’s 800m, where 17-year-old American Cooper Lutkenhaus ran a season-best 1:42.70 to secure victory ahead of Canada’s Marco Arop, while Algeria’s Slimane Moula finished third.