Rome (AFP)

Phenomenal Armand Duplantis.

The Swedish prodigy (20) managed the feat of supplanting pole vault legend Sergei Bubka by setting the best performance of all time in the open air (6.15 m) on Thursday at the Diamond League meeting in Rome.

Duplantis already had the world record (6.18m), set indoors since February.

He added another prestigious line to his resume by affording himself the luxury of erasing one of the greatest athletes in history from the shelves.

Bubka had dominated the head of the outdoor record for more than 26 years after jumping 6.14m in July 1994 in Sestriere.

But nothing can resist Duplantis, no doubt left to reign over his discipline for very long years.

This feat, the 2018 European champion turned around in recent weeks, without managing to achieve it.

After having hit hard this winter, this gifted pole vault had made the "record" outdoors his summer goal, unable to compete in the Olympic Games, postponed to 2021, or the Euro, canceled due to the health crisis.

He finally touched the goal, in the heat of the Olympic stadium, deprived of the public because of Covid-19, and at the end of a competition which he crushed, without opponents to his measure, like Renaud Lavillenie , which did not go higher than 5.70 m.

Another record hunter, Karsten Warholm, however, will have to wait a little longer.

The double world champion in the 400m hurdles again released a supersonic race (47 sec 07) but without worrying Kevin Young, who still holds the best time of all time (46 sec 78 in August 1992 at the Barcelona Olympics) .

- Warholm "satisfied" -

Starting from his usual lane 7, the Norwegian (24 years old) logically flew over the debates, largely ahead of the French Ludvy Vaillant, very far behind in 2nd place in 48 sec 69. The one who had approached the Grail, on August 23 in Stockholm (46 sec 87, second fastest time in history), this time was slower but still felt "satisfied".

"It's the third best time of my life, he explained. I'm very happy. This season has been a good experience for me. The world record? I'm used to talking about it and I love it because it shows that I'm in the right rhythm, that I'm close. "

In the 100m, the 2016 double Olympic champion (100m, 200m) Elaine Thompson made a winning comeback in Europe.

The Jamaican sprinter, who had not crossed the Atlantic since the outbreak of the pandemic, won in 10 sec 85, best time of 2020.

© 2020 AFP