Australia\u2019s Kurtis Marschall pulled off an almighty upset at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on Sunday, toppling pole vault icon Armand \u2018Mondo\u2019 Duplantis. <\/p>\n
Marschall inflicted the Swedish sensation first defeat in almost three years when he failed to clear six metres on homesoil.<\/p>\n
\ufeffWatch the biggest Aussie sports & the best from overseas LIVE on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n Marschall, who won bronze at the Paris Olympics, and everyone else in the sport have been trying to play catch up as Duplantis repeatedly broke his own world records in recent years.<\/p>\n The 29-year-old West Australian got the better of Duplantis to be the first to clear at the 6.0m height, however. <\/p>\n Then the local hero was unable to clear at 6.05m in difficult conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe it! I\u2019m going to cherish this for my whole life. They don\u2019t come easy in this day and age,\u201d Marschall told Athletics Australia. <\/p>\n \u201cI jumped great in these conditions, I\u2019m very happy, but I know Mondo isn\u2019t going to let it happen in the future. This stadium wouldn\u2019t be what it is without him, so to come here and to do it in front of this crowd, I\u2019m cherishing every single moment.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s one of the best competitors and one of the best blokes. I love him with all my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n Duplantis said he hoped the defeat would prove a good romantic omen. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m getting married in about a week\u2019s time… there\u2019s a lot around that but I don\u2019t want to make that the excuse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a saying in Swedish… that you\u2019re either lucky in games or you\u2019re lucky in love.<\/p>\n \u201cIn some really strange way I think there some funny message and silver lining to this whole thing that maybe it\u2019s saying something about my commitment that I\u2019m about to make in my marriage, maybe.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s something that really makes me believe in that right now.\u201d But he added he hoped he only needed to suffer one defeat.<\/p>\n \u201cI lost at my home city, I\u2019m here in Stockholm, and I had so much family here, it\u2019s actually the worst thing that could ever happen to me,\u201d he said as he wrestled with the logical implications of his statement.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that this loss will keep the love lucky for quite a while, I would hope, probably for ever.\u201d <\/p>\n Australia’s Kurtis Marschall (L) and Sweden’s Armand Duplantis hug after competing in the Men’s Pole Vault event of the IAAF Stockholm Diamond League.Source: AFP<\/p>\n The last time Duplantis failed to win was in the Monaco Diamond League meeting in 2023, when he finished tied for fourth and Australian Kurtis Marschall was third.<\/p>\n Since then, Duplantis has raised the world record nine more times to 6.31, set in Uppsala, Sweden, in March.<\/p>\n The stage was set for the American-born Swedish star to again hit new heights before his fans, and family, but he struggled with the conditions.<\/p>\n Marschall outjumped and out-bluffed Duplantis.<\/p>\n They were the only two competitors left after Duplantis cleared 5.80m. Marschall then went over at 5.90m.<\/p>\n After Duplantis failed at 6.0m, Marschall passed, forcing Duplantis to lift the bar to 6.05m where he failed again.<\/p>\n \u201cBig hats off to Kurtis because he was the better man and beat me fair and square,\u201d said Duplantis.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had a little bit of some tough winds today, for sure, but I didn\u2019t jump that well.\u201d Duplantis added: \u201cI felt I was pretty unfocused.\u201d<\/p>\n Australia’s Kurtis Marschall reacts after competing in the Men’s Pole Vault event of the IAAF Stockholm Diamond League.Source: AFP<\/p>\n Marschall was not the only Australian to produce an impressive meet in Stockholm.<\/p>\n Cameron Myers finished second in the men\u2019s 1500m as he was run down in the final straight by American Yared Nuguse.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not the outcome that I wanted but you have to play to how you feel on the day, and I didn\u2019t feel great which is frustrating. I get to go again on Wednesday [in Oslo],\u201d Myers told Athletics Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cThe legs weren\u2019t there from 800m in. I didn\u2019t have the usual feeling. I was in a position where I had to command it and keep it fast, even through I wasn\u2019t feeling good.\u201d<\/p>\n Olympic bronze medallist Matthew Denny came runner-up in the men\u2019s discuss, while Peter Bol clocked a season\u2019s best when finishing fifth in the 800m.<\/p>\n In other events, Audrey Werro set the fastest time in the women\u2019s 800m in 43 years, US teenager Cooper Lutkenhaus sparkled on his Diamond League debut in the men\u2019s 800m and Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won in her first 100m of the season.<\/p>\n In the women\u2019s 800m, Werro became only the third woman ever to run the event in under 1min 54sec, with her time of 1:53.98 the third fastest in history.<\/p>\n In doing so she beat Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson into second place, despite the Briton beating her British record with a time of 1:54.33.<\/p>\n Switzerland\u2019s Werro, 22, smashed her personal best by more than two seconds. \u201cI have no words, it\u2019s really a crazy performance and I will need one week to process what just happened today,\u201d Werro said.<\/p>\n The only two women to have run faster were Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova, when she set the current world mark of 1:53.28 in 1983, and Soviet runner Nadezhda Olizarenko, who had set the previous record in 1980.<\/p>\n Many world records set in the 1980s, when doping was rife, have long been viewed with suspicion, even those that set them never failed a doping test.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day for two years I repeat to myself \u2018I am the best\u2019, sometimes it\u2019s really hard to believe but if you repeat this every day you can do great things, like today,\u201d Werro added.<\/p>\n Jefferson-Wooden, running her first 100m since taking the world title last September in Tokyo, bounced back from her 200m defeat in the Rome Diamond League meet a few days earlier as she cruised to victory.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really happy I was able to come out and perform after Rome three days ago, that being my first race of the year,\u201d she said at the finish.<\/p>\n Two months after becoming the youngest world champion, at the indoors in Poland in March, 17-year-old Lutkenhaus won on his Diamond League debut, outfoxing an experienced 800m field to surge through on the home straight and win in 1:42.70.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m young but I feel pretty old sometimes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s Kurtis Marschall pulled off an almighty upset at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on Sunday, 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