The China Mail - Bromell upsets Lyles, Duplantis shines at Paris Diamond League

Lyles, the reigning Olympic champion, suffered a disastrous start and could not make up the difference as Bromell, a two-time world bronze medallist, stormed to the win in 9.91 seconds from lane eight.

"I'm good. The feeling at the start was not what I expected," said Lyles, who finished second, a hundredth of a second off Bromell.

Switzerland's Audrey Werro continued her dominant form over 800m as she scorched to another victory, in a Diamond League record of 1min 53.80sec.

Femke Broeders-Bol, the convert from 400m hurdles, was second in a personal best of 1:55.60 as she continued her transformation into a true two-lap competitor.

Werro's time was the third fastest ever run, bettering her previous best set in Stockholm earlier this month by 0.18sec.

The 22-year-old Swiss runner's performance saw her edge closer to the oldest world record in athletics -- the 1:53.28 for the outdoor 800m set by Jarmila Kratochvilova of the then-Czechoslovakia in 1983.

"I was not expecting to run this fast this season," said Werro, who credited her improving time to becoming a professional athlete no longer also juggling university studies.

"These recent performances have really given me hope and built my confidence to what is coming next."

In the pole-vault, Duplantis, like Emmanouil Karalis, entered the competition at 5.63m, both skipping 5.73m.

The Greek cleared 5.83m without a problem, Duplantis opting to sit that height out as the competition moved to the business end.

The US-born Swede cleared 5.93m, along with France's Baptiste Thiery.

Karalis failed once at that height before passing as the bar was set for 6.03m. Duplantis went over that to set a new meet record, bettering by 2cm the previous best he set back in 2021.

That proved too high for Thiery and Karalis, Duplantis going on to easily clear 6.13m. The Swede then had three unsuccessful world record attempts at 6.32m.

- Arop thrives on fast track -

Botswana's world champion Busang Collen Kebinatshipi timed his finish to perfection to claim the win in the 400m in a stunning meet and Diamond League record of 43.54sec.

There was also an impressive performance in the men's 110m hurdles, American Jamal Britt clocking a personal best of 12.89sec.

It was the joint eighth fastest time ever run over the high hurdles.

A third Diamond League meet record was set in the women's 400m, won by Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic in 48.79sec.

Canada's 2023 world champion Marco Arop, the Olympic silver medallist, burst from the field to win the men's 800m in an impressive 1:41.84, the fastest time over the distance this season.

"I know I am in really good shape now, but if I can finetune for the rest for the season I might be able to break the world record this year," Arop said of David Rudisha's 1:40.91 set when the Kenyan won Olympic gold in 2012.

And on a fast track in perfect conditions, Australia's Cameron Myers ran the 12th fastest time ever to win the 1,500m in an Oceania record of 3:28.00.

C.Mak--ThChM