World News – CA – Athletics: Sweet 16 while top-flight Duplantis remains perfect

DOHA • Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis finished a perfect season beating world champion Sam Kendricks in the Doha Diamond League meeting on Friday, the last in a shortened campaign. Covid-19 pandemic

The 20-year-old has won his 16 encounters this year and set the outdoor world record of 615m in Rome last week and improved the world record to 618m on the World Indoor Tour in February

A 582m chest was enough for him to win again Friday at the Qatar Sports Club in front of the American Kendricks and the former French Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie, who both climbed the same height but with more chess

“It was a fantastic season and I enjoyed sharing that moment tonight with the guys,” said Duplantis “I enjoyed the jump and the rivalry with Sam It was fun with him because we have always been income « 

Echoing the point of view of many athletes, he added: « It has been a roller coaster year, sort of. I broke the world indoor record earlier in the year and was enjoying the season, but all of a sudden the pandemic came and it all stopped and no one knew what was going to happen next

Hendricks – the last person to beat Duplantis, at Doha’s Khalifa stadium during last year’s world championships – finished second in the countdown and Lavillenie third in wet and hot conditions with a temperature of 32 ° C

Kenyan Faith Kipyegon set the fastest time this season to win the women’s 800m, taking the lead from Spain’s Esther Guerrero around 200m from the end before returning home for a comfortable victory in 1 minute 5768 seconds

« I am very surprised not only with the victory, but also with my record here tonight, » said the Olympic 1500m champion

« It’s been a disturbing year and I’m happy that it is coming to an end. We can’t wait long enough for 2021 »

Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah continued her impressive form with an easy victory in the women’s 100m The Jamaican finished in 1087sec, with Ivorian Marie-Josée Ta Lou distant 034sec behind in second

In the new system, the first three after five rounds enter a « final three », the previous results are canceled and the athlete with the best final jump wins the competition

Bekh-Romanchuk produced 691m for her last effort while Nigerian Ese Brume finished second with 668m Sweden’s Khaddi Sagnia finished third with 655m

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Doha Diamond League, Diamond League, Armand Duplantis, Athletics, Elaine Thompson, Hellen Obiri, Doha