At 35, Jamaica&rsquo;s two-time Olympic 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has done it all. But she still hasn&rsquo;t finished, and her appearance at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Paris on Saturday (18) will represent another significant step in her campaign to defend her world 100m title in Oregon next month.
Fraser-Pryce established her name early on this season&rsquo;s world list when she ran in the rarified air of Nairobi and won in 10.67 - only seven-hundredths off the personal best she ran last year to put herself third on the all-time list.
Her Jamaican compatriot and twice successor as Olympic 100m champion, Elaine Thompson-Herah, has since made a good start to her pursuit of a first individual world title with a best of 10.79 on the Eugene track that will stage the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
But now Fraser-Pryce is back to make another impression in top-level competition at the Meeting de Paris on the ultra-fast blue track at Stade Charlety, which was renovated in 2019.
She will be taking on some talented sprinters including Switzerland&rsquo;s Mujinga Kambundji, the surprise &ndash; and surprised &ndash; winner of the world indoor 60m title in Belgrade earlier this year in a personal best of 6.96. Kambundji, who turns 30 on the day before the race, will be targeting her personal best of 10.94.&nbsp;
Also in the mix will be Michelle-Lee Ahye of Trinidad and Tobago, who has run 10.94 this season and has a personal best of 10.82, and Marie-Josee Ta Lou of the Ivory Coast, who missed a 100m medal by one place in Tokyo as she ran 10.91.
Two-time Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, who has raced well but not exceptionally at 200m this season, will get down to serious business at her specialist event. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62738cb88374a066d6f167fd.JPG" alt="Shaunae Miller-Uibo wins the 2019 Diamond League final in Zurich" />
Shaunae Miller-Uibo wins the 2019 Diamond League final in Zurich (&copy; Jiro Mochizuki)
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The 28-year-old Bahamian, who lowered her own continental record to 48.36 in Tokyo last summer, is third in this year&rsquo;s top list with her time of 49.91, but that was set in April and the Olympic champion will want to check in on her current form having run over 200m recently.
She faces a strong Polish trio of Natalia Kaczmarek, who ran a huge personal best of 50.16 in Ostrava and stands sixth in this year&rsquo;s world list, European champion Justyna Swiety-Ersetic and Anna Kielbasinska.
The Bahamas will be providing both Olympic 400m champions in Paris, with Steven Gardiner hoping to further fine-tune his world title defence in Oregon with a rare Diamond League appearance.
The leggy 26-year-old, who is 1.93m tall and has run 43.48, making him the sixth best performer of all time, did not compete in any Diamond League race last year and only raced once in Europe, at Szekesfehervar in Hungary.
His last appearance on the sport&rsquo;s top circuit was at Monaco in 2019, when he won. Gardiner is already in good shape, having run 44.22 at Baton Rouge in Louisiana on 23 April - the fastest time recorded so far this year.
Meanwhile, European champion Matthew Hudson-Smith, who recently took one hundredth of a second off the British record of 43.36, set by Iwan Thomas in 1997, could be in position to better a record of even longer standing, this time the European one of 44.33 set by East Germany&rsquo;s Thomas Schoenlebe in 1987.&nbsp;
Devon Allen of the United States, whose 12.84 clocking in last Saturday&rsquo;s New York Grand Prix &ndash; the third-fastest ever run &ndash; earned him a handsome victory ahead of world champion and compatriot Grant Holloway, maintained winning momentum over 110m hurdles in Oslo, although this victory was earned in 13.22 into a headwind of -1.2 m/s. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/62ab8c64d217ab0413f48df6.jpg" alt="Devon Allen wins the 110m hurdles at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Oslo" />
Devon Allen wins the 110m hurdles at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Oslo (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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Allen, who will take up a professional American football career at the end of this season as a wide receiver with National Football League side Philadelphia Eagles, is due to run in Paris against a field that includes home hurdler Wilhem Belocian.
Canada&rsquo;s Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse has been running 100m recently to sharpen up, but after clocking 10.24 at the Birmingham Diamond League on 21 May he dropped out of the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games on 5 June. On Thursday in Oslo, however, he returned to form in the 100m &ndash; in which he won Rio 2016 bronze &ndash; as he earned victory in 10.05 from Britain&rsquo;s Reece Prescod, who clocked 10.06.
On Saturday, like Miller-Uibo, he will get down to business in his main event against a field that includes Prescod, who produced a big personal best over 100m of 9.93 in blustery conditions at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting on 31 May. Meanwhile, Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic will be seeking to build on what has been a good start to the season, in which he has run 20.07.
Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega, who won the Ethiopian World Championships trials race in Hengelo and then finished fourth in the 5000m in Rome, is expected to race over the shorter distance in Paris.
Christian Taylor and Pedro Pichardo produced some of the most epic men&rsquo;s triple jump competitions when they met during 2015. It seemed only a matter of time before they prompted each other to surpass the 1995 record of 18.29m set by Britain&rsquo;s Jonathan Edwards.
They didn&rsquo;t manage that, although they came close, with Taylor recording 18.21m in Beijing before retaining his Olympic title in Rio the following year, and Pichardo reaching 18.08m. Taylor added two more world titles before his Tokyo Olympic hopes disappeared with a severe achilles tendon injury last season, from which he is now working his way back. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/609bc64cab2143baf386aa85.jpg" alt="Christian Taylor in action in the triple jump in Szekesfehervar" />
Christian Taylor in action in the triple jump in Szekesfehervar (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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The two men&rsquo;s fortunes diverged in 2021, as Pichardo, having switched from his native Cuba to represent Portugal, won the Olympic title, adding a world indoor silver earlier this year.
As the two men meet again in competition, the dynamics are different, as Taylor, now 31, is seeking to regain previous heights &ndash; or rather, lengths &ndash; and has a season&rsquo;s best of 16.11m, set in Montreuil on 2 June.
Pichardo is eighth in this season&rsquo;s list with 17.18m, but he will need to be on top form to fend off the challenge of his two Cuban former compatriots who currently top the list with 17.76m and 17.64m respectively, Jordan Diaz Fortun and Andy Diaz.
French-based Burkino Faso jumper Hugues Fabrice Zango, the Tokyo bronze medallist, is outside the top 10 right now with his outdoor best of 17.09m, but his recent victory in the African Championships &ndash; and his indoor personal best of 18.07m &ndash; makes it clear that this is an athlete capable, if he hits it right, of defeating all the foregoing.
Belgium&rsquo;s two-time Olympic heptathlon champion Nafissatou Thiam will take part in the women&rsquo;s high jump, which her best of 2.02m makes her entely capable of winning as she prepares to earn a second world title this summer.
But she has formidable opposition in the form of the respective Olympic silver and bronze medallists Nicola Olyslagers - nee McDermott - and Ukraine&rsquo;s 20-year-old Yaroslava Mahuchikh, who won the world indoor title in Belgrade in March and is the only jumper to have reached 2.00m this season.
The men&rsquo;s pole vault will see France&rsquo;s former world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie, fifth in Oslo on 5.60m, and his younger brother Valentin in action along with Brazil&rsquo;s Rio 2016 champion Thiago Braz and, assuming he can resume normal working after pulling out of the Oslo competition, two-time world champion Sam Kendricks of the United States.
Bahrain's Winfred Yavi is the favourite in the women&rsquo;s 3000m steeplechase having run 8:58.71 this year, putting her second on the season&rsquo;s list. This could be a steep learning curve for France&rsquo;s 31-year-old European indoor 3000m silver medallist Alice Finot as she continues her late breakthrough to the highest levels of competition.
Valarie Allman of the United States, the Olympic women&rsquo;s discus champion who has set a North American record of 71.46m this season, suffered a surprise defeat to Croatia&rsquo;s London 2012 and Rio 2016 gold medallist Sandra Perkovic in Oslo, and the two rivals will resume competition in Paris. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/613a6fe48a5188153224e6bf.jpg" alt="Discus winner Valarie Allman at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich" />
Discus winner Valarie Allman at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich (&copy; AFP / Getty Images)
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Home thrower Melina Robert-Michon, the Rio 2016 silver medallist, will be seeking to make a significant impact in front of French fans.
Japan&rsquo;s Haruka Kitaguchi, fifth in this year&rsquo;s women&rsquo;s world javelin list with 63.93m, has the best 2022 record of those assembled, but while Australia&rsquo;s Kelsey-Lee Barber has only reached 61.00m this season, she is world champion and has a personal best of 67.70m.
Also in the field are Barber&rsquo;s compatriot Mackenzie Little, who has thrown a personal best of 63.18m this season, and Nikola Ogrodnikova of the Czech Republic, who has thrown 62.80m this season and has a best of 67.40m. And last but not least, Ogrodnikova&rsquo;s compatriot Barbora Spotakova, double Olympic and three-time world champion, as well as being world record-holder with 72.28m. At 40, she is still a hugely competitive athlete.
Botswana&rsquo;s Nijel Amos, whose PB of 1:41.73 puts him third on the world all-time list, is always a winning possibility in any men&rsquo;s 800m race. But he faces Morocco&rsquo;s&nbsp;Moad Zahafi, who is bang on form and currently tops the 2022 world lists with 1:43.69, while Amos has run 1:44.92 this year.
Poland&rsquo;s Tokyo bronze medallist Patryk Dobek, who has run 1:44.49 this season, will also fancy his chances.
Meanwhile, home trio Benjamin Robert, Gabriel Tual and 2017 world champion and Tokyo finalist Pierre-Ambroise Bosse will be in the mix, with the latter two still requiring a World Championships qualifying time.
Nigeria&rsquo;s Commonwealth Games 100m hurdles champion Tobi Amusan, more recently African champion, won in a season&rsquo;s best of 12.57 at Tuesday&rsquo;s World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Turku and will be favourite here. 
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/613a571d8254afbb38e8dc63.jpg" alt="Tobi Amusan celebrates her 100m hurdles win at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich" />
Tobi Amusan celebrates her 100m hurdles win at the Wanda Diamond League final in Zurich (&copy; Getty Images)
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But there are a clutch of challengers who won&rsquo;t be far away, including Poland&rsquo;s Pia Skrzyszowska, who has run 12.62 this year, Britain&rsquo;s Cindy Sember, who has gone one hundredth of a second slower, and Nadine Visser of the Netherlands, double European indoor champion, who has recorded a 2022 best of 12.72.
Sadly Poland&rsquo;s three-time Olympic gold medallist Anita Wlodarczyk will not be taking part in the evening&rsquo;s non-Diamond League hammer throw fest as she now has her entire left leg in plaster after injuring her thigh while chasing someone who was trying to steal her car.
That gives a big opportunity for Poland&rsquo;s Tokyo bronze medallist Malwina Kopron to shine, along with home talent Alexandra Tavernier, world bronze medallist in 2015.
The men&rsquo;s event features Poland&rsquo;s Tokyo champion Wojciech Nowicki and four-time world champion Pawel Fajdek along with France&rsquo;s world silver medallist Quentin Bigot, who recently threw a personal best of 80.14m in Forbach.
Meanwhile, France&rsquo;s world decathlon record-holder Kevin Mayer, who took a second Olympic silver at the Tokyo Games despite injury problems, is preparing for a second world title with his customary cluster of key events at this meeting.
In company with other top home decathletes he will compete in the shot put, long jump and 110m hurdles.
His last &ldquo;triathlon&rdquo; at Stade Charlety in 2019 saw him lower his personal bests in the 110m hurdles to 13.55 &ndash; it has since come down by 0.01 &ndash; and the shot put to 17.08m.
Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

The next Diamond League meeting is another significant step on the road to Oregon

Fraser-Pryce aims to impress in Paris as she plans world 100m title defence

France&rsquo;s 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie produced his best vault for more than seven years by clearing 6.06m at the All Star Perche meeting in Aubiere &ndash; the final World Athletics Indoor Tour fixture of 2021 &ndash; on Saturday (27).
The day had started over in New Zealand with Valerie Adams producing her best form for nearly five years, and it ended in France with her fellow 2014 World Athlete of the Year Renaud Lavillenie also turning back the clock The last time Lavillenie vaulted higher was when he set the former world record of 6.16m in 2014.
The 34-year-old made easy work of his first two vaults, going over 5.70m and 5.86m on his first attempts. Younger brother Valentin and 20-year-old Ethan Cormont, also of France, exited the competition at 5.86m, both having cleared 5.80m, a PB for the latter.
USA&rsquo;s Chris Nilsen got over 5.86m on his third attempt but bowed out with three misses at 5.96m. Menno Vloon, meanwhile, was successful at that height on his third attempt, adding 15 centimetres to his own Dutch indoor record.
The bar moved up to 6.01m, a height which Lavillenie skipped, and Vloon&rsquo;s third attempt was particularly close but ultimately unsuccessful.
Lavillenie, the final man left in the competition, took a few moments to compose himself for his attempts at the next height, 6.06m. After two misses, he succeeded on his third try &ndash; and with a bit of room to spare &ndash; punching the air in celebration on his descent.
He ended his evening with three failed attempts at a would-be world record of 6.20m, but he was more than happy with his day&rsquo;s work.
Britain&rsquo;s Holly Bradshaw used the competition as a shot of redemption, having been forced to miss the final World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of the year in Madrid just a few days prior. She had been in first place in the overall standings, but Iryna Zhuk&rsquo;s victory in the Spanish capital gave the Belarusian the overall series title.
In Aubiere, however, Bradshaw continued her unbeaten streak and won with 4.78m.
She was playing catch-up during the earlier heights as a second-time clearance at 4.50m put her behind Canada&rsquo;s Alysha Newman and Slovenia&rsquo;s Tina Sutej. But Newman, Sutej and Switzerland&rsquo;s Angelica Moser topped out at 4.60m, while Bradshaw and Zhuk both went clear at 4.68m on their first attempts.
Bradshaw finally gained sole ownership of the lead with a first-time clearance at 4.73m &ndash; a height which Zhuk needed three attempts to get over. Zhuk went no higher, however, while Bradshaw went on to succeed at 4.78m on her third try. Bradshaw ended her series with three misses at a would-be PB height of 4.88m.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

France’s 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie produced his best vault for more than seven years by clearing 6.06m at the All Star Perche meeting in Aubiere – the final World Athletics Indoor Tour fixture of 2021 – on Saturday (27).

Lavillenie vaults 6.06m in Aubiere, his best clearance since 2014

Renaud Lavillenie cleared a world-leading 6.02m in the pole vault at the Perche en Or de Tourcoing meeting in the northern French city on Sunday (31).
His clearance, which he topped on his first attempt, came just two days after his 5.95m victory at the World Indoor Athletics Tour Gold meeting in Karlsruhe, and less than a handful of hours after Mondo Duplantis topped 6.01m in Dusseldorf for a short-lived world lead.
Lavillenie's afternoon competition was short, sweet and efficient. Opening with a first attempt clearance at 5.63m, he passed to 5.80m and again to 5.91m, topping those with his first tries as well. His subsequent 6.02m clearance was the former world record-holder's first six-metre clearance since 17 March 2016, when he sailed over that same height to capture the world indoor title.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🔥 Renaud Lavillenie (<a href="https://twitter.com/airlavillenie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@airlavillenie</a>) qui passe 6m02 a son premier essai &agrave; Tourcoing et qui prend du m&ecirc;me coup la meilleure performance mondiale de l'ann&eacute;e ! 👑🇫🇷 Le roi de la perche est de retour ! 😍✊ <a href="https://t.co/iBPZHzCZc3">pic.twitter.com/iBPZHzCZc3</a>
&mdash; Clovis (@Sivolc) <a href="https://twitter.com/Sivolc/status/1355927099383672834?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2021</a></blockquote>
He continued, outdoing his young rival once again before the day was done, with an attempt at a would-be world record of 6.20m, one centimetre higher than Duplantis attempted in Dusseldorf earlier in the afternoon. He wasn't especially close, but that he even attempted it underscored that Lavillenie, at 34, has returned to his finest form in half a decade.
Ethan Cormont was a distant second at 5.72m, edging Valentin Lavillenie on countback.
Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi cleared 4.61m on her third attempt to win the women's competition. Stefanidi, who bowed out with three misses at 4.71m, was competing for just the second time since the 2019 World Championships where she took bronze.
Femke Plium of the Netherlands was second at 4.52m.
Bob Ramsak for World Athletics
<h3>Hodgkinson smashes world U20 indoor 800m record in Vienna </h3>
European U18 champion Keely Hodgkinson opened her 2021 campaign in sensational style at the Indoor Track &amp; Field Vienna meeting on Saturday (30), smashing the world U20 indoor 800m record with 1:59.03*.
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The 18-year-old Briton competed at this meeting last year and broke the European indoor U20 record with 2:01.16. Stronger and faster than she was 12 months ago, Hodgkinson returned to the Austrian capital with the world U20 mark of 2:01.03 as her goal.
She held back slightly from the swift opening pace and was in fourth place as the pacemaker led the field through half way in 57.56. Hodgkinson then moved into the lead with 300 metres to go. By the time the bell sounded, and with 1:28.83 on the clock, Hodgkinson had built up a comfortable lead.
She continued to pull away from the field and charged through the line in 1:59.03, taking exactly two seconds from the previous mark set by Ethiopia&rsquo;s Meskerem Legesse in 2004.
&ldquo;The race was perfect,&rdquo; said Hodgkinson, who won the senior British 800m titles indoors and outdoors last year. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never gone through the bell that quickly before, but I tried not to panic. It couldn&rsquo;t have gone better, I&rsquo;m really happy.&rdquo;
Earlier in the programme there were double Dutch records for training partners Femke Bol and Lieke Klaver.
They first took on the 400m and lined up in separate heats on Dusika Stadium&rsquo;s four-lane track. Klaver, drawn in the first heat, powered through the first lap in a swift 23.60 &ndash; faster than her indoor 200m PB &ndash; and held her sizeable lead to the end, stopping the clock at 51.48.
Her time took 0.34 off the Dutch indoor record set 23 years ago by Ester Goossens. But the new mark didn&rsquo;t last long.
Bol, who ran a world-leading 53.79 for the 400m hurdles last year, took to the track just a couple of minutes later. The 20-year-old&rsquo;s opening lap was a bit more controlled, timed at 24.67, and she maintained her even-paced effort in the second half, crossing the line in 50.96.
Not only did she break Klaver&rsquo;s three-minute-old national record, she also became just the second 20-year-old European woman to better 51 seconds indoors.
Later in the day, they were back on track for the 200m. This time Bol went first and notched a 23.52 victory, narrowly missing the Dutch record but smashing her PB. It was then Klaver&rsquo;s turn and, determined to end the day as a national record-holder, she powered around the track and stopped the clock at 23.17, taking 0.17 off the Dutch record that had stood to Els Vader since 1988.
&ldquo;I am so happy to have broken this old, old record,&rdquo; said Klaver. &ldquo;I remember learning about this record when I was a kid and it was a dream of mine to break it. I want to meet Els Vader as she is ill. I&rsquo;m really looking forward to meeting her.&rdquo;
There were good performances in the men&rsquo;s middle-distances. Istvan Szogi took two seconds off the long-standing Hungarian indoor record to win the 1500m in a world-leading 3:37.55, while Britain&rsquo;s European indoor silver medallist Jamie Webb won the 800m in an indoor PB of 1:46.95.
<h3>Tamberi tops 2.32m </h3>
Italy&rsquo;s 2016 world indoor champion Gianmarco Tamberi also opened his 2021 account on Saturday (30), winning in Ancona with 2.32m.
The Italian record-holder needed all three attempts at 2.22m, 2.28m and 2.32m and rounded out his series with two unsuccessful tries at 2.35m. There was good reason for his slightly erratic series, though.
&ldquo;Today I jumped for my grandfather, who died in November,&rdquo; said Tamberi. &ldquo;I cried on the phone to my grandmother earlier today when she reminded me that grandfather Marcello never missed a single jump. Even during my run-up to 2.32m, I couldn&rsquo;t hold back the tears.&rdquo; 
<iframe style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Ffidal.it%2Fvideos%2F844709426374400%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 Although Tamberi had been hoping to jump higher, the last time he jumped higher than 2.32m was at the 2016 Monaco Diamond League meeting when he picked up a career-threatening injury. His next competition will be at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Banska Bystrica on 2 February.
Elsewhere in Europe, it was a good day for former 800m specialists stepping up in distance. 2014 world U20 800m bronze medallist Andreas Almgren set a Swedish indoor 3000m record of 7:41.6 in Sollentuna, while 2010 European 800m champion Marcin Lewandowski clocked an outright 3000m PB of 7:51.69 in Torun, just two seconds shy of the Polish record.
<h3>Lightfoot breaks collegiate pole vault record in Lubbock </h3>
Just two weeks after setting an indoor collegiate pole vault record of 5.94m, USA's KC Lightfoot added one centimetre to that mark at the Texas Tech Classic in Lubbock on Saturday (30).
The 21-year-old had first-time clearances at 5.65m, 5.75m and 5.85m, at which point he had the competition won. Zach Bradford, having cleared a best of 5.75m, bowed out at 5.85m. But Lightfoot went on to clear 5.95m on his second attempt before having three tries at 6.00m.
On the first day of action in Lubbock, Bryce Deadmon sped to an indoor PB of 45.29 to win the 400m, and Trinidad and Tobago&rsquo;s Tyra Gittens set a national pentathlon record of 4612, thanks in no small part to a 1.91m high jump and a 6.58m long jump.
Germany's 2017 world U18 bronze medallist Leo Neugebauer, a student at the University of Texas, won the men's heptathlon with a PB of 5960.
At the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Matthew Boling set his third sprint PB of the year, winning the 200m in 20.53.
Teenager Anna Hall excelled in the pentathlon and won with a score of 4590, moving her into the top 10 on the US indoor all-time list.
At the Bob Pollock Invitational in Clemson, Isaac Grimes added 18 centimetres to his lifetime best to win the long jump, equalling the world-leading mark of 8.18m that had been set by Juan Miguel Echevarria just moments earlier in Karlsruhe.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
 *Pending the usual ratification procedure

European U18 champion Keely Hodgkinson runs 1:59.03

Lavillenie soars 6.02m world lead in Tourcoing, Hodgkinson smashes world U20 indoor 800m record

The set-up and atmosphere may have felt slightly unusual at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe, but the action and excitement didn&rsquo;t suffer at the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2021 on Friday (29).
World 200m champion Dina Asher-Smith was the first athlete to arrive in Karlsruhe earlier this week, and she was first to finish in the 60m. Having sped to a controlled 7.11 to win her heat earlier in the programme, she returned to the track one hour later and went even faster.
Her winning time of 7.08 equalled the PB she first set in 2015 and tied in 2018. The Briton plans on having a full indoor season, so it doesn&rsquo;t seem unreasonable to expect her to continue to chip away at that time and perhaps break the national record of 7.06.
France&rsquo;s Orlann Ombissa-Dzangue was second in 7.16, just 0.01 of Switzerland&rsquo;s Ajla del Ponte, who equalled her PB.
&ldquo;Obviously it has been a strange year and a long time since I&rsquo;ve competed on the international stage, so I didn&rsquo;t know what to expect,&rdquo; said the triple European champion. &ldquo;But to open with my fastest opener ever and equal my PB was really good.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been working hard in training and I&rsquo;m happy to see some of those elements coming through. The indoor season is really important this year, more than ever, because we&rsquo;ve missed a whole year of high-level competitions. I&rsquo;m excited for what my next races bring.&rdquo;
<h3>Meeting records for Lavillenie and Dongmo</h3>
Buoyed by his promising 5.92m season opener from two weeks ago, former world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie continued that momentum in Karlsruhe and put together one of his best indoor series for a long time.
He went straight into the lead with his opening height of 5.62m and consolidated it at 5.80m, also getting over on his first attempt. Germany&rsquo;s Torsten Blech and USA&rsquo;s Cole Walsh exited the competition at that stage, while USA&rsquo;s Matt Ludwig got over it on his second try.
Ludwig was unable to go any higher, but Lavillenie popped over 5.88m and 5.95m with his first attempts, breaking his own meeting record from 2016. After two unsuccessful tries at 6.00m, the 2012 Olympic champion called it a night; a highly satisfying one at that. The last time the 34-year-old vaulted higher than 5.95m was in the 2016 Olympic final.
&ldquo;It was a long competition but a good one,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Honestly I didn&rsquo;t expect to jump that high today. I was going to jump off a shortened approach of 16 steps and couldn&rsquo;t find my rhythm, so in my warm-up I moved to 20 steps and found that my rhythm returned, so I went with that.&rdquo;
Portugal&rsquo;s Auriol Dongmo picked up in 2021 where she left off last year &ndash; as the world leader in the shot put. 
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Auriol Dongmo, winner of the shot put at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe</div>
&nbsp;
The 30-year-old opened her series with an indoor PB and meeting record of 18.81m, which would have ultimately been sufficient to win, but she went on to unleash an outright lifetime best of 19.65m in round two. Since the 2016 World Indoor Championships, only one athlete &ndash; two-time world champion Gong Lijiao &ndash; has thrown farther indoors.
Dongmo followed it with two more throws beyond 19 metres and could not be caught. Sweden&rsquo;s Fanny Roos produced a national record of 18.64m in the final round to finish second, overtaking Britain&rsquo;s world finalist Sophie McKinna. Germany&rsquo;s 2015 world champion finished down in fifth with 18.27m.
&ldquo;This is what we had been waiting for,&rdquo; said Dongmo. &ldquo;My coach and I have been working a lot on my technique because in the past it wasn&rsquo;t very good. But each day I try to improve it and this is the result.&rdquo;
<h3>Birgen and Chepkoech triumph over 3000m</h3>
Kenya&rsquo;s Bethwell Birgen and Beatrice Chepkoech were both victorious over 3000m, but they went about it in different ways.
Birgen took off in the final kilometre, having been paced through 2000m in 5:06.44. His lead looked insurmountable with a couple of laps to go, but Spain&rsquo;s Mohamed Katir started to make up significant ground in the closing stages.
Birgen held on, though, and won in 7:34.12, moving him into the top 10 on the Kenyan indoor all-time list. Katir was rewarded with a huge PB of 7:35.29, nine seconds faster than his outdoor best.
While Birgen ran solo for last kilometre, Chepkoech had company over the final few laps. The steeplechase world champion and world record-holder controlled the pace in the second half and maintained a consistent tempo. 
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Beatrice Chepkoech wins the 3000m at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe</div>
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With one lap to go, Britain&rsquo;s Melissa Courtney-Bryant tried to make a move, as did Fantu Worku, the 3000m winner in Karlsruhe last year. But Chepkoech managed to hold off both challenges and crossed the line in 8:41.98. Worku was second (8:42.22), just ahead of Courtney-Bryant (8:42.41).
Elliot Giles timed his run to perfection in the men&rsquo;s 800m. Once the pacemaker stepped to one side, Sweden&rsquo;s Andreas Kramer &ndash; a known front-runner &ndash; led the strung-out field through 600m in 1:18.04. With about half a lap left, Giles kicked into the lead and opened up a significant gap on Kramer, striding all the way to the finish in a world-leading 1:45.5. Due to a fault in the timing system, performances in this race were hand-timed. 
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Elliot Giles wins the 800m at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe</div>
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&ldquo;What happened during the race was kind of funny,&rdquo; said Giles. &ldquo;It was like the daily traffic in Paris and I was the scooter trying to pass through the cars.&rdquo;
France&rsquo;s Benjamin Robert came through to take second in a PB of 1:46.3 while 2017 world champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse finished third in 1:46.4, just 0.15 shy of his indoor PB.
<h3>Belocian and Neziri take top honours in hurdles</h3>
France&rsquo;s Wilhem Belocian was a class apart in the men&rsquo;s 60m hurdles. The 2016 European bronze medallist sped to a lifetime best of 7.48 to win his heat and then almost matched that time to win the final in 7.49. 
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Wilhem Belocian in the 60m hurdles at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe</div>
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He finished a metre clear of USA&rsquo;s Aaron Mallett (7.59) with world indoor bronze medallist Aurel Manga taking third in 7.64.
Belocian&rsquo;s victory in the final wasn&rsquo;t completely unexpected after the heats, but the same can&rsquo;t be said of Finland&rsquo;s Nooralotta Neziri in the women&rsquo;s event.
Neziri had progressed to the final as a non-automatic qualifier after finishing third in her heat in 8.01. But the 28-year-old, drawn in lane eight, put together the race of her life to win the final in 7.92, taking 0.05 off her own national record.
African champion Tobi Amusan was second in 7.94, just ahead of Nadine Visser (7.96) and Elvira Herman (7.99). 
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Liadagmis Povea, winner of the triple jump at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Karlsruhe</div>
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Cuban duo Liadagmis Povea and Juan-Miguel Echevarria secured a horizontal jumps double. Povea bounded out to a world-leading PB of 14.54m in the second round of the women&rsquo;s triple jump to take a comfortable victory ahead of Finland&rsquo;s Kristiina Makela (14.13m).
Echevarria, meanwhile, landed just three valid jumps but his opening effort of 8.18m was enough to win by 10 centimetres from compatriot Maykel Masso.
Elsewhere, Germany&rsquo;s Marvin Schlegel finished strongly to win the 400m in a PB of 46.61, beating France's Thomas Jordier by 0.07.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

The set-up and atmosphere may have felt slightly unusual at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe, but the action and excitement didn’t suffer at the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2021 on Friday (29).

Dominant displays from Asher-Smith, Birgen and Lavillenie in Karlsruhe

Dozens of the world&rsquo;s best athletes will be in action at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe on Friday (29) for the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2021.
World champions Beatrice Chepkoech and Dina Asher-Smith lead an all-star cast that also features several other winners of major titles, including 2012 Olympic pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie, 2015 world shot put champion Christina Schwanitz, three-time world indoor 400m champion Pavel Maslak, world indoor long jump champion Juan Miguel Echevarria, and 2017 world 800m champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse.
Given the ongoing restrictions brought on by the global Covid-19 pandemic, meeting organisers continue to face near unprecedented challenges as they work to ensure their meetings take place in the safest possible settings and circumstances.
&ldquo;I have been in a process of constant idea sharing with international colleagues to collect as much experience for the Indoor Meeting as possible,&rdquo; said Alain Blondel, the athletes' liaison for Karlsruhe. &ldquo;We have a major responsibility towards our fans, the athletes as well as the numerous helpers, to carry out the meeting as best we can."
A meeting &lsquo;bubble&rsquo; has been formed for Karlsruhe &ndash; as will be the case for all other World Athletics Indoor Tour meetings &ndash; and the total number of people allowed access to Karlsruhe&rsquo;s Europahalle has been capped at 200, 120 of those athletes, and no spectators.
Such arrangements have, of course, become the norm over the past nine months, and it hasn&rsquo;t prevented the world&rsquo;s best athletes from producing stunning performances.
World steeplechase champion Chepkoech, who was able to piece together a respectable string of performances throughout 2020, will be making her 2021 debut in Karlsruhe and leads a strong 3000m line-up.
The 29-year-old Kenyan has raced in the German city twice before, both times over 1500m, finishing third in 2018 and fourth in 2020. She holds the Kenyan indoor record for 1500m (4:02.09) and has the fastest outdoor 3000m PB of the entire field (8:22.92, set last year).
Compatriot Gloria Kite and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Fantu Worku will provide stiff opposition. Kite has an outdoor PB of 8:29.91, while Worku has notched up sixth-place finishes in her two most recent global championship appearances.
European indoor bronze medallist Melissa Courtney-Bryant, steeplechase specialist Mirusa Mismas and Germany&rsquo;s Elena Burkard should all be in contention too.
World 200m champion Asher-Smith is another standout athlete set to race in Karlsruhe.
The 25-year-old, who hasn&rsquo;t competed indoor for three years, has raced in Karlsruhe on three previous occasions, winning in 2015, placing third in 2016 and finishing second in 2017. She set her lifetime best of 7.08 when finishing second at the 2015 European Indoor Championships in Prague, and she matched that time in Glasgow in 2018 in what was her most recent indoor appearance. 
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 Asher-Smith&rsquo;s opponents in Karlsruhe will include Ajla del Ponte of Switzerland, 2017 European indoor champion Asha Philip and world indoor finalist Carolle Zahi.
Philip, the British record-holder, is the fastest in the field with a PB of 7.06. Del Ponte will be looking to revise her indoor PB of 7.17 after enjoying a breakthrough during the 2020 outdoor season. Zahi, meanwhile, recently clocked 7.19, her fastest time for three years.
Schwanitz last weekend returned from a 15-month break &ndash; during which she had knee surgery &ndash; and went straight to the top of the shot put world list with a 19.11m victory in Chemnitz.
The 35-year-old, who won in Karlsruhe in 2017, will face her first big test of the year as she takes on a field that includes 2020 world leader Auriol Dongmo of Portugal, three-time US champion Chase Ealey and 2016 Olympic fifth-place finisher Raven Saunders of the US. 
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 Cuba&rsquo;s Juan Miguel Echevarria will return to the scene of his first ever indoor long jump competition. Three years ago, still aged just 19, Echevarria won in Karlsruhe with 7.97m, then one month later went on to win the world indoor title with 8.46m. His momentum continued outdoors and he flew to a wind-assisted 8.83m and a wind-legal PB of 8.68m.
After a shortened season in 2020, the 22-year-old hopes to return to winning ways in Karlsruhe when he lines up against European champion Mitliadis Tentoglou of Greece, European indoor silver medallist Thobias Montler of Sweden and European silver medallist Fabian Heinle of Germany.
<h3>Eaton and Mallett take on top French trio</h3>
Two men&rsquo;s sprint events are among the 11 scoring disciplines on this year&rsquo;s World Athletics Indoor Tour, and both will be contested in Karlsruhe. 
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 The 60m hurdles features world indoor silver medallist Jarret Eaton and his US compatriot Aaron Mallett, who enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2020. But they face a formidable French trio in the form of European champion Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, world indoor bronze medallist Aurel Manga and 2016 European bronze medallist Wilhem Belocian.
In the 400m, world indoor champion Pavel Maslak takes on Spain&rsquo;s Oscar Husillos. It will be just the second time they&rsquo;ve faced each other indoors since the fateful 2018 World Indoor Championships final, where Husillos was first to cross the line but was later disqualified for a lane violation, promoting Maslak to gold.
Asian champion Yousef Karam of Kuwait and Spain&rsquo;s Samuel Garcia, winner in Madrid last year, should also be in contention. Germany&rsquo;s Marvin Schlegel, who set a PB of 46.66 last weekend, is the fastest in the field based on times this year. 
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 The women&rsquo;s triple jump, another World Indoor Tour scoring discipline in Karlsruhe, has a similarly strong line-up featuring North American record-holder Tori Franklin, European champion Paraskevi Papachristou, European indoor champion Ana Peleteiro and Cuba&rsquo;s Liadagmis Povea.
<h3>Strong fields for pole vault, hurdles and middle-distances</h3>
Along with the seven scoring disciplines, there will be five non-scoring disciplines taking place in Karlsruhe.
Former world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie, world bronze medallist Piotr Lisek and 2013 world champion Raphael Holzdeppe headline a strong men&rsquo;s pole vault field. Lavillenie got his season off to a flying start earlier this month, vaulting 5.92m in Bordeaux.
The women&rsquo;s 60m hurdles will feature African champion Tobi Amusan, 2015 world bronze medallist Alina Talay, European indoor champion Nadine Visser and European champion Elvira Herman.
France&rsquo;s 2017 world 800m champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse doesn&rsquo;t often race indoors, but he has fond memories of Karlsruhe as it is where he set his indoor PB of 1:46.25 in 2016. On Friday the 28-year-old will line up against 2016 European bronze medallist Elliot Giles, Swedish record-holder Andreas Kramer and two-time European indoor medallist Kevin Lopez.
Elsewhere on the track, Kenya&rsquo;s Bethwell Birgen takes on French steeplechaser Djilali Bedrani and Morocco&rsquo;s Abdelaati Iguider in the 3000m, while Uganda&rsquo;s Winnie Nanyondo will clash with Ireland&rsquo;s Ciara Mageean and world steeplechase medallist Gesa Felicitas Krause in the 1500m.
Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics

Dozens of the world’s best athletes will be in action at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe on Friday (29) for the first World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meeting of 2021.

Global champions set to converge in Karlsruhe

The French athletics federation &ndash; F&eacute;d&eacute;ration fran&ccedil;aise d'athl&eacute;tisme (FFA) &ndash; celebrates its 100th birthday this year but the achievements of French athletes span many decades more as the country was one of the first to embrace our sport in a fashion that we might currently recognise it.
During the early part of the 19th century, professional pedestrian races were held in France, often between the servants of noblemen for the purposes of betting, but the first recorded athletics meeting which would be recognisable today was held in St Servan, Brittany, in 1866.
France&rsquo;s first known club, devoted purely to running, was formed in Paris in 1875 and the famous Racing Club de France, which had athletes of all disciplines among its number, came into being seven years later.
&ldquo;The first (international) meeting in our territory was in 1886 at Croix-Catelan (in Paris) and included Belgians and the English as well as the French,&rdquo; according to the FFA website. &ldquo;The programme included: 100m, 400m, 1500m and 120m hurdles. We can consider that birth of (modern) athletics in France. Jumps and throws did not appear until 1892.&rdquo;
The first French Championships took place in 1888 under the auspices of a multi-sport organisation which the following year became the Union des Soci&eacute;t&eacute;s Fran&ccedil;aises de Sports Athl&eacute;tiques (USFSA). This was to be the governing body of the sport in France &ndash; and the affiliated organisation to the International Amateur Athletic Federation upon its foundation in 1912 &ndash; until the inauguration of the FFA on 20 November 1920.
Of course, towering over the early history of athletics in France is the figure of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games.
Not surprisingly, France was well represented at its very first edition in 1896 and has been ever since, one of only four countries to have athletes at every Olympic Games.
Alexandre Tuffere has the honour of being his country&rsquo;s first Olympic medallist when he finished second in the very first event to be decided on the 1896 athletics programme, the triple jump. Although there were no French winners in Athens, four years later on home soil in Paris, Michel Theato was victorious in the marathon to become France&rsquo;s first ever Olympic gold medallist.
French athletics successes in the global and continental stage have continued ever since.
Jean Bouin was an iconic figure in long distance runner who won medals at both the 1908 and 1912 Olympic Games and set three official world records before tragically being killed in the early months of World War I in September 1914. 
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Hannes Kolehmainen leads the 1912 Olympic 5000m final from Jean Bouin and George Hutson</div>
&nbsp;
The late 1920s and early 30s were also a halcyon period for French distance running with Boughera El Ouafi winning the 1928 Olympic Games marathon and Jules Ladoumegue, a 1500m silver medallist at the same Games in Amsterdam, setting world records over 1000m, the mile, 1500m and 2000m.
French women started to make a name for themselves internationally immediately after World War II and Micheline Ostermeyer took a shot and discus double at the 1948 Olympic Games.
However, the next global superstar for Les Bleus was Alain Mimoun, who had a series of memorable duels with the legendary Emil Zatopek before finally striking Olympic gold in the 1956 marathon.
Mimoun was also a formidable cross country runner and won the International Cross Country title &ndash; the forerunner to the World Cross Country Championships &ndash; on four occasions.
In 1999, the French magazine Athl&eacute;tisme Magazine &ndash; holders of a World Athletics Heritage Plaque &ndash; voted Mimoun as the &lsquo;French Athlete of the 20th Century&rsquo;. 
<img src="https://media.aws.iaaf.org/media/Square/edb9b4dc-0dd7-490b-be00-feafb52053fc.png?cachebuster=fb5a4be9-88fa-45a7-af8f-05a3e90384b1" alt="French athletics memorabilia" width="600" height="600" />
 Turn the clock slightly forward to the 1960s and once again the spotlight was on a superlative runner in the form of Michel Jazy.
Jazy &ndash; who coincidentally had shared a room with Mimoun in Melbourne &ndash; came to international attention when he took the 1500m silver medal in a French record behind Herb Elliott in the Australian&rsquo;s world record-setting winning run at the Rome 1960 Olympic Games.
He went on to win the 1500m and 5000m at the 1962 and 1966 European Championships respectively but also gained global fame for his races against the clock, setting nine world records over a variety of distances including a 3:53.6 mile in 1965.
Into the bargain, Jazy set an astonishing 49 national records between 1959 and 1966. 
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French middle-distance runner Michel Jazy</div>
&nbsp;
The 1970s saw the emergence of the charismatic hurdler Guy Drut, who won the European 110m title and set three world records the following year before also triumphing over the barriers at the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games.
France has historically also had its fair share of super-quick sprinters &ndash; think of former 100m world record-holder Roger Bambuck who ran 10.0 in 1968 and Jimmy Vicaut, the current co-holder of the European 100m record with 9.86 &ndash; and they showed their talent at the European Championships in 1990 when Max Moriniere, Daniel Sangouma Jean-Charles Trouabal and Bruno Marie-Rose combined to post a 4x100m world record of 37.79, the first time in almost 22 years that the standard was not in US possession.
In the 1990s, France produced many stellar female sprinters as well, notably three-time Olympic gold medallist Marie-Jose Perec and Christine Arron, whose winning time of 10.73 at the 1998 European Championships remains a continental record to this day. 
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Marie-Jos&eacute; Perec</div>
&nbsp;
In the 21st century, France&rsquo;s most prolific world record setter has been race walker Yohann Diniz who set the current 50km world record of 3:32.33 when winning the 2014 European title, his third continental crown over the distance to which he would add a 20km world record the following year and a 2017 world title over the longer distance.
However, no brief history and celebration of French athletics success would be complete without a mention of their phenomenal tradition in the pole vault.
Fernand Gonder set the trend in motion with three world bests back in 1904 and 1905 followed by a victory at the 1906 Intercalated Games. 
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Yohann Diniz on his way to winning the 50km race walk</div>
&nbsp;
Thierry Vigneron set five world records in a frantic period between 1980 and 1984 while Philippe Houvion and Pierre Quinon also had one world record vault apiece during this period, the latter taking the gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games.
Jean Galfione added another Olympic pole vault title to the French role of honour in 1996 while Renaud Lavillenie won the 2012 Olympic Games gold medal, three successive European outdoor titles between 2010 and 2014 and broke Sergey Bubka&rsquo;s world record that had stood for 21 years when he cleared 6.16m indoors in February 2014, a prelude to him become the only French athlete ever to be voted as the World Athlete of the Year later in 2014.
Phil Minshull for World Athletics

The French athletics federation – Fédération française d'athlétisme (FFA) – celebrates its 100th birthday this year but the achievements of French athletes span many decades more as the country was one of the first to embrace our sport in a fashion that we might currently recognise it.

French athletes make a huge impact over more than a century

This year&rsquo;s Athletissima meeting in Lausanne on 2 September will combine traditional athletics with originality as two top-level pole vault competitions will take place simultaneously on Place de l'Europe in the heart of the city.
Like other adapted competitions, such as last week's Impossible Games in Oslo, and Zurich's Inspiration Games due to take place later this year, Athletissima will not be a scoring Wanda Diamond League meeting. Nevertheless, it will be one of the highest-quality gatherings of field event athletes in 2020.
World record-holder Mondo Duplantis, 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie, two-time world champion Sam Kendricks, 2017 world silver medallist Piotr Lisek and 2011 world champion Pawel Wojciechowski are among the names confirmed so far for the men&rsquo;s competition.
Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi, world indoor champion Sandi Morris, Commonwealth champion Alysha Newman and Swedish record-holder Angelica Bengtsson are set to contest the women&rsquo;s event.
The athletes will jump alternately, a man followed by a woman, on two separate and parallel tracks. In order for the performances to be officially recognised, two specially designed tracks will be installed, which will make it possible to fully compensate for the slightly negative slope of the venue. All the equipment will be chartered from Paris and by a local Swiss company.
In line with the measures taken by Swiss authorities, the event is preparing to welcome 1000 spectators, but the capacity could be increased to 5000 if federal measures were to be alleviated by then. Either way, Athletissima will respect the Swiss government&rsquo;s security regulations on the day of the competition.
&ldquo;The athletes are eager to come and compete; they keep knocking at our door,&rdquo; said meeting director Jacky Delapierre. &ldquo;All of our usual sponsors, with the exception of one, are ready to support us, despite the exceptional situation we're in. This is a strong positive signal for us.&rdquo;
The event will take place from 5:30pm to 7:30pm CEST and will be broadcast live by the three national TV channels.
Organisers for World Athletics

This year’s Athletissima meeting in Lausanne on 2 September will combine traditional athletics with originality as two top-level pole vault competitions will take place simultaneously on Place de l'Europe in the heart of the city.

Host of global pole vault medallists set to compete in Lausanne

The Wanda Diamond League Call Room lockdown series continues today (13) with its Paris edition, with Olympic 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk, 2012 Olympic pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie and Commonwealth pole vault champion Alysha Newman taking the stage on the Diamond League's ​<a href="https://www.facebook.com/DiamondLeague" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook page</a>​ and ​<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-toQm0YAu4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube​ channel</a>.
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Speaking about his injury trauma of the past two years, Van Nierkerk explained he is &ldquo;100% ready&rdquo; to return to action when lockdown lifts.
"There were days when I couldn&rsquo;t walk,&rdquo; said the 400m world record-holder, who has been out of action with a knee injury since 2017. "I have learned to differentiate between bad pain when I am on the brink of injuring myself and pain where I just need a day or two of rest and recovery.
&ldquo;I had to learn to listen to my body more, and I thank my coaches for listening to me when I am in that situation. You get a lot of coaches who would have pushed athletes through that pain, but my team was very patient.&rdquo;
Lavillenie, a regular competitor at the Meeting de Paris, said that the coronavirus crisis and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics has allowed him to shake off his injury troubles.
&ldquo;Having a year off is not that bad for me,&rdquo; said the former world record-holder. &ldquo;I'm happy to say I have no more injury, no more pain, for the first time in three years.&rdquo;
The seven-time Diamond League champion said that he is now able to focus on building up to a single, triumphant performance in Tokyo next year.
&ldquo;My goal is not to jump high every competition, but just to jump high one time," he said. "I'm trying to change course and focus on Tokyo."
Fellow pole vaulter Newman said that winning a Diamond League final is one of the biggest goals of her career.
&ldquo;Winning the Diamond Trophy has always been a No.1 goal for me,&rdquo; said Newman, who broke her own Canadian record when winning in Paris last year with 4.82m. Looking back on that performance, she said she was hungry for more success.
&ldquo;I want more now," she said. "You set your goals high, you accomplish those goals and then you want more.&rdquo;

The Wanda Diamond League Call Room lockdown series continues today (13) with its Paris edition, with Olympic 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk, 2012 Olympic pole vault champion Renaud Lavillenie and Commonwealth pole vault champion Alysha Newman taking the stage on the Diamond League's ​Facebook page​ and ​YouTube​ channel.

Wanda Diamond League Call Room - Paris edition

France&rsquo;s 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie and Sweden&rsquo;s world record-holder Mondo Duplantis shared the honours in the inaugural Ultimate Garden Clash &ndash; Pole Vault Edition on Sunday (3), beating arch-rival Sam Kendricks in a unique three-way competition.
The contest, devised by the three pole vaulters, was a race to see who could produce the most 5.00m vaults within a 30-minute period, all from the comfort and safety of their own back gardens. Lavillenie was vaulting from his home in Clermont-Ferrand, Kendricks was competing from his back garden in Oxford, Mississippi, and Duplantis was taking part from his base in Lafayette, Louisiana.
World record-holder Duplantis took an early lead and Lavillenie was not far off the young Swede&rsquo;s pace. Two-time world champion Kendricks, meanwhile, tried to pace himself from the outset and trailed his opponents in the first half.
Despite an aborted attempt, Duplantis was the first to reach double figures and he had tallied 18 five-metre vaults by the half-way mark. Lavillenie was just one shy of that total with 17 while Kendricks had amassed 12.
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In the second half, Duplantis and Lavillenie continued to vault at a similar pace. Duplantis had notched up 25 clearances with 10 minutes remaining while Lavillenie trailed by just one. Kendricks tried to increase his rate of vaulting but had left himself with too much catching up to do.
After a missed attempt from Duplantis, Lavillenie took the lead with two minutes to go as he sailed over his 32nd clearance. His young opponent soon matched that, but Lavillenie kept up his relentless tempo.
By the end of the contest, Lavillenie and Duplantis had each successfully cleared a total of 36 five-metre vaults, beating Kendricks&rsquo; tally of 26. Following a brief discussion between the top two, they decided to share the victory.
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m done, I don&rsquo;t want to take any risks,&rdquo; said Lavillenie. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll share the gold with Mondo.
&ldquo;I was really missing the feeling I get competing. It&rsquo;s crazy but even doing this in my garden, I get the same feeling I&rsquo;d get at a major championships. It was very exciting and I&rsquo;m very happy to be a part of it. I'm not going to do it every week, but I'm happy to do it once a year.&rdquo;
Although he was prepared to continue competing for another three minutes to split the tie, Duplantis was happy to share the victory with his predecessor as world record-holder.
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&ldquo;It was really fun being out there competing against those guys,&rdquo; said Duplantis. &ldquo;I had really missed competing. I didn&rsquo;t think it was going to end in a tie, but that&rsquo;s sports!&rdquo;
Kendricks, meanwhile, felt that the outcome may have been different had they been targeting higher heights.
&ldquo;If the bar had been at 5.40m, maybe it would have been a different story,&rdquo; said Kendricks, the only vaulter who didn&rsquo;t record any failures. &ldquo;Preparing for this was honestly my best training of the whole spring.&rdquo;
World Athletics President Sebastian Coe was one of the thousands of fans who tuned in to watch the contest.
"I am so proud of these three talented athletes," said Coe. "This is a brilliant initiative, great fun and really innovative. My thanks go to them, their families and the World Athletics team for bringing live athletics back during lockdown. I hope we can bring a few more events like this to bring to all athletics fans out there. Thank you to all of them and all our athletes staying home and training hard, for watching&rdquo;
World Athletics is exploring the possibility of holding other Ultimate Garden Clash competitions in the coming weeks.

France’s 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie and Sweden’s world record-holder Mondo Duplantis shared the honours in the inaugural Ultimate Garden Clash – Pole Vault Edition on Sunday (3), beating arch-rival Sam Kendricks in a unique three-way competition.

Lavillenie and Duplantis tie in Ultimate Garden Clash – Pole Vault Edition

Much of the world may be in lockdown, but with the use of modern technology, some of the greatest athletes on the planet will compete against one another on Sunday 3 May in the Ultimate Garden Clash &ndash; Pole Vault Edition.
World record-holder Mondo Duplantis of Sweden, two-time world champion Sam Kendricks of the USA and 2012 Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie of France will be connected via a live video link as they compete from the comfort and safety of their own back gardens in a unique competition for the ages.
Streamed on the World Athletics <a href="https://www.youtube.com/worldathletics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/WorldAthletics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/WorldAthletics/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a> pages, the competition will be held on Sunday between 5-6pm CEST &ndash; weather permitting &ndash; and will span three locations; Lavillenie will vault from his home in Clermont-Ferrand, Kendricks will compete from his back garden in Oxford, Mississippi, and Duplantis will take part from his base in Lafayette, Louisiana.
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Instead of a contest to clear the maximum height &ndash; which would be difficult with a lack of officials to move the bar up and adjust standards &ndash; the three athletes worked together to devise their own competition format. They will attempt to vault 5.00m as many times as they can within 30 minutes.
It will be a test of technique, consistency, concentration and stamina &ndash; all qualities that are required in a normal pole vault competition, just measured in an alternative way.
"I'm ecstatic to be able to compete again, especially against Sam and Renaud," said Duplantis. "Since it's unknown what other competitions we will all have together, we definitely are going to enjoy this and have a good time with it. Also, winning this is crucial because I don't like losing to them very much."
"This is a superb opportunity to see the best jumpers in a new competition format showing their love for their sport with a competition when most other sports are off," added Lavillenie. "And because we are all at home, we have no excuses to miss this international home competition."
Kendricks said: "Because it&rsquo;s a unique style of competing, I think we will all be learning as we go. No matter how precise and accurate we are, I think the challenge is we don&rsquo;t know what it will take to win, so it will be hard to gauge our effort. I know that it doesn&rsquo;t matter what we are doing together. We each want to win."
World Athletics is exploring the possibility of holding other Ultimate Garden Clash competitions in the coming weeks.

Much of the world may be in lockdown, but with the use of modern technology, some of the greatest athletes on the planet will compete against one another on Sunday 3 May in the Ultimate Garden Clash – Pole Vault Edition.

Duplantis, Kendricks and Lavillenie set for Ultimate Garden Clash – Pole Vault Edition

Organisers of the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe have confirmed that world pole vault record-holder Renaud Lavillenie and 2016 European champion Cindy Roleder will compete at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting on 31 January.
Lavillenie, known in Karlsruhe as &lsquo;Mr Pole Vault&rsquo;, returns to the venue where he set the meeting record of 5.91m in 2016. That was his third victory in the German city, following his wins in 2013 and 2015.
Hampered by a meniscus injury, the 33-year-old vaulted 5.82m indoors and 5.85m outdoors in 2019, but was some way short of his best form at the World Championships in Doha, where he was unable to reach the final.
Now fit again, Lavillenie is focused on the 2020 indoor season on his way to competing at what would be his third Olympic Games.
German sprint hurdler Roleder is also well acquainted with Karlsruhe and January&rsquo;s race will mark her 10th appearance at this meeting. She won in Karlsruhe in 2015 and equalled her PB of 7.84 there in 2018.
&ldquo;I have only good memories of this meeting,&rdquo; said the 2015 world silver medallist. &ldquo;It is a fixed date on the calendar for me every year. I always look at when this meeting is set to take place and then I&rsquo;ll focus my training around it.&rdquo;
Organisers for World Athletics

Organisers of the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe have confirmed that world pole vault record-holder Renaud Lavillenie and 2016 European champion Cindy Roleder will compete at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting on 31 January.

Lavillenie and Roleder confirmed for Karlsruhe

Ahead of the World Athletics Awards 2019, join pole vault world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie and multiple world shot put champion Valerie Adams on the latest episode of the World Athletics Club.
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Ahead of the World Athletics Awards 2019, join pole vault world record-holder Renaud Lavillenie and multiple world shot put champion Valerie Adams on the latest episode of the World Athletics Club.