There was drama aplenty at the athletics world championships in Tokyo on Monday night, with Aussie Kurtis Marschall taking bronze behind another pole vault world record from Mondo Duplantis, and Olympic champion Cole Hocker disqualified from the 1500m final. Marschall won Australia’s first medal of the meet, but was blown away as Duplantis broke the world record for the 14th time.
The Swede secured a third-successive world championships title when he powered over at 6.15m. But he then had the bar raised to 6.30m and cleared it at the third and final attempt to the delight of a capacity crowd.
Mondo Duplantis (L) broke the pole vault world record for the 14th time, while Cole Hocker (R) was disqualified in the 150m semi-finals. Image: Getty/World Athletics
It marked the 14th time that Duplantis broke the pole vault world record, leaving close friend Marschall in awe of the “outrageous” scenes. The Aussie had earlier equalled his personal best of 5.95m, which was good enough to pocket Australia’s first medal of the championships.
The 28-year-old had three unsuccessful cracks at 6m, but fell short of the mark that only three Australians have ever cleared – former world champs Steve Hooker and Dmitri Markov, and Marschall’s coach Paul Burgess. “It’s outrageous,” Marschall said of Duplantis after celebrating his rival’s feats.
“We all knew Mondo was going to do at the third attempt, it’s like it was guaranteed pretty much. Just icing on the cake, miracle stuff, fairytale stuff and to be a part of that is so cool.”
Such is Duplantis’ greatness that third-place finisher Marschall was 35cm off his rival’s mark. “It’s tough knowing that I just got pumped tonight, but I jumped the best I ever have against some of the best guys in the world on the biggest stage I’ve ever jumped on, other than the Olympics,” he said. “It’s a tough pill to swallow but just to be a part of this generation of pole vaulters is so sick and I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Kurtis Marschall was rapt for good mate Mondo Duplantis after scoring a bronze medal in the pole vault. Image: Getty
Olympic champion disqualified in men’s 1500m
There was high drama in the men’s 1500m semis as Olympic gold medallist Hocker was kicked out of the final. The American was ruled to have illegally ‘jostled’ past German runner Robert Farken during the semi-finals on Monday.
Hocker famously stunned Josh Kerr and Jakob Ingebrigtsen to win gold at last year’s Paris Olympics, but won’t even be in the final in Tokyo. Hocker was found to have broken World Athletics’ ‘jostling’ rules as he pushed past Farken to finish in a qualification spot. The German team launched an appeal, which saw Farken elevated to the final at Hocker’s expense.
The US team said in a statement: “We are disappointed by the decision to disqualify Olympic champion Cole Hocker from the men’s 1500m final. We believed we had grounds for an appeal and unfortunately, that appeal was denied.” It was the second disqualification drama in as many days after Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo was kicked out of the 100m final for a false start.
Former 1500m world champion Steve Cram said in commentary for BBC: “You can’t do this, really. I know the gap was there, if he’d been a bit more patient. He uses his elbow, puts it across Farken, who may or may not have got in, it was down to thousandths of a second.
“The Americans will counter-protest. They are absolutely miffed. That’s the Olympic champion, that’s not good for the sport and we’d love him to be there. But at the same time Hocker panicked there and he did impede the German athlete.”
It means Hocker and Jakob Ingebrigtsen will both watch the 1500m final from the sidelines. Norwegian superstar Ingebrigtsen failed to qualify in his heat as he continues to struggle since coming back from an Achilles injury.
Cole Hocker looks on following his 1500m semi-final. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
New Zealander wins steeplechase in huge boilover
The best performance from an Oceania athlete on Monday night came from New Zealander Geordie Beamish, who was a shock winner of the men’s steeplechase in eight minutes, 33.88 seconds. And with Aussie legend Sally Pearson watching from the stands, there was also a boilover in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Ditaji Kambundji won in a Swiss record time of 12.24 seconds ahead of world record holder Tobi Amusan from Nigeria and American athlete Grace Stark. Camryn Rogers of Canada won a second-successive women’s hammer throw world title with a best throw of 80.51m.
with agencies