World Athletics ratified three world records

World records set by three athletes who are set to feature prominently at the forthcoming World Athletics Championships in Tokyo 25 – Mykolas Alekna, Beatrice Chebet, and Armand Duplantis – have received ratification from World Athletics.

Mykolas Alekna achieved his first world discus throw record of 74.35m on April 14, 2024, at the Oklahoma Throws Series World Invitational. The Olympic silver medalist subsequently improved upon that record twice – first by setting a new world record of 74.89m with his opening throw, and then enhancing it further to 75.56m in the fourth round. Both of these records have been officially ratified.

In a competition characterized by remarkable depth, five athletes exceeded the 70-metre mark, with Australia’s Matt Denny also surpassing Mykolas Alekna’s former world record by throwing the discus 74.78m.

Armand Duplantis set his 13th world pole vault record by clearing a height of 6.29m at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting held in Budapest on August 12th.

Returning to the location of his victory at the 2023 World Championships, the 25-year-old athlete improved upon his former world record of 6.28m, which he set in Stockholm on June 15th by an additional one centimeter.

Beatrice Chebet set her world 5,000m record at the Eugene Diamond League on July 5th. Returning to the location of her world 10,000m record from the previous year, she completed the 5,000m in 13:58.06 min, surpassing the 14:00.21 min record established by Gudaf Tsegay in Eugene on September 17, 2023.

Beatrice Chebet completed 3,000m in 8:22.96, which is 1.04 sec faster than the pace needed for a sub-14-minute race. Although the pace decreased slightly for the subsequent kilometer, the 25-year-old had conserved energy for the final stages and ultimately surpassed the previous world record by 2.15 seconds.

“I’m so happy to become the first woman to run under 14 minutes. After Rome (where she ran 14:03.69), I knew that I was capable of running a world record”, said Beatrice Chebet.

The trio is now concentrating on the World Championships in Tokyo, scheduled for 13-21 September, where they aspire to create further history while vying for global titles.