On Friday (13), the Wanda Diamond League Final will take place in Brussels. World-class pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis and Olympic gold medallist Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who both shattered world records this year, will be looking to end their careers on a high note. On the opening day of competition, the Allianz Memorial Van Damme will host the first 16 of the 32 Diamond events; the remaining disciplines will be contested on Saturday in the Belgian capital.
Athletes headed for Brussels won a total of 82 medals at the recent Paris 2024 Olympic Games, 25 of which were gold. Duplantis and Mahuchikh will be among the five disciplines with all of the podium finishers. Olympic and world champion Duplantis has already broken three world records this year: one at the Olympics, one prior to and one subsequent to them, the most recent being a 6.26-meter vault in Silesia.
It was present at the Diamond League Final the previous year when Duplantis cleared 6.23 meters to set his eighth career world record. Should he fail to break the 11th global mark this weekend, he might aim for the 6.10m meeting record he established the previous year. In any case, he will want to finish his unbeaten run by 2024 at the very least. He will face the same competitors that stood with him on the podium in Paris, including USA’s Chris Nilsen and KC Lightfoot in the six-meter vault and Greece’s Emmanouil Karalis.
