Monaco, Sep 10 (IANS) World records set by three athletes, Swedish pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, men’s discus thrower Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania and Kenyan long-distance runner Beatrice Chebet, have been ratified by the World Athletics.

The 2023 world champion and 2024 Paris Olympic winner, Duplantis set his 13th world pole vault record when he cleared 6.29m during the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Budapest on August 12.

Back at the scene of his 2023 World Championships win, the 25-year-old Swede added one centimetre to his previous world record of 6.28m achieved in Stockholm on June 15.

Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna improved his own discus world record by more than a metre with a sensational 75.56m* throw at the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational, a World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meeting, in Ramona on Sunday (13).

Back at the meeting where he set his first world record of 74.35m last year, the Olympic silver medallist twice improved that mark – first setting a world record of 74.89m with his opening throw and then improving to 75.56m in the fourth round.

In a competition of record depth, five athletes surpassed 70 metres and Australia’s Matt Denny also beat Alekna’s previous world record mark by launching the discus 74.78m.

Kenya’s Chebet achieved her world 5000m record at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Eugene on July 5. Returning to the scene of her world 10,000m record from last year, she ran the 5000m in 13:58.06, improving on the 14:00.21 set by Gudaf Tsegay in Eugene on 17 September 2023.

Chebet passed 3000m in 8:22.96, 1.04 seconds inside the pace required for a sub-14-minute run. The pace dropped slightly for the next kilometre, but the 25-year-old eventually took 2.15 seconds off the previous world record in the clisong stage.

The focus for the trio is now on the World Championships in Tokyo, taking place from September 13-21, where they will hope to make even more history as they compete for global crowns.

–IANS

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