Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis returned to Wanda Diamond League action on Wednesday with a meeting record of 6.15m at Athletissima in Lausanne.
Duplantis cleared the height - which was also a Swiss all-comers record- at the third attempt after an enthralling competition at the city event at the Place de la Navigation
"I was getting quite tired there but I'm very thankful to the crowd. I love jumping here. I had an amazing time last time and an even more amazing time this year," said Duplantis.
After securing victory at 6.00m, Duplantis asked for the bar to be raised to 6.15m, attempting to break his own meeting record of 6.10m. Having clipped the bar at his first attempt, he ran through his second before finally sailing over at the last.
"It's always nerve-wracking when you have a big performance like I did at the Olympics. I stepped out on the track today and I really loved it," he said.
Olympic silver medallist Sam Kendricks came in second with 5.92m, just three centimetres off the season's best he posted in Paris.
"I rode the wave of a lot of great competitors today," said Kendricks, with a nod to the five other men who had gone deep into the competition.
Sondre Guttormsen, Kurtis Marschall, Ernest John Obiena and Emmanouil Karalis all cleared 5.82m alongside Kendricks and Duplantis, before bowing out at 5.92m.
Seven-time Diamond League champion Renaud Lavillenie equalled his season's best with 5.72m, while the USA's Chris Nilsen bowed out early at 5.62m.
The Athletissima meeting is the 11th leg of the 2024 Wanda Diamond League, and one of four remaining chances for athletes to earn points and qualify for the series final in Brussels on September 13th-14th. The main programme of the meeting takes place at the Stade de la Pontaise on Thursday evening.
