Season review part three: Rain, records and rehearsals

The weather can play a decisive role in the pole vault at the best of times, and as the Wanda Diamond League continued in Stockholm on July 2nd, it was anything but the best of times. Chilly conditions and a torrential downpour made for a difficult night for all athletes in the Swedish capital, and even delayed the start of the men's pole vault by approximately an hour. Yet Swedish world record holder Mondo Duplantis was not going to miss the chance to deliver in front of his home crowd. Even on a wet and windy runway, Duplantis stuck around long after the main programme had ended and eventually sailed over 6.05m with astonishing ease given the circumstances. Ever the entertainer, he then even attempted the world record, but given the biblical weather, that proved to be a miracle too far even for him. 

A full Wanda Diamond League member meeting for the first time in 2023, the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial was hoping to deliver at least as much excitement as it had on its series debut a year earlier, and it didn't disappoint. Triple jump world record holder Yulimar Rojas got the party started with a world lead of 15.18m, before Haruka Kitaguchi broke the Japanese javelin record with a 67.04m throw which would bode well for the rest of her season. Sha'Carri Richardson also stormed to another portentous win in the women's 100m, while Wayde Van Niekerk's 44.08 in the 400m was one of seven meeting records which tumbled in the Silesia Stadium in Chorzow. After all that excitement, it was Jakob Ingebrigtsen who delivered the cherry on the cake with a European record of 3:27.14 in the men's 1500m. It wouldn't be the last time that the Norwegian would set a new area record in the 2023 season. 

To break a world record in two different disciplines is one thing. To do so in three, all of them in a single season, is quite another. Yet by the time Faith Kipyegon touched down in Monaco in mid-July, everything seemed possible for the Kenyan distance ace. With the 1500m and 5000m world records already under her belt, Kipyegon set about attacking Sifan Hassan's world record in the women's mile, which the Dutchwoman had set at the same meeting four years earlier. In the end, Kipyegon blew Hassan out of the water with a breathtaking 4.07.64, completing an unprecedented hat-trick of world records and crowning a historic season even before she had defended her world and Diamond League titles. Once again, the Kenyan's performance overshadowed almost everything else that happened at the Stade Louis II, but with another Diamond League record for Karsten Warholm in the 400m hurdles, a surprise defeat for Duplantis in the pole vault and a world lead for Nia Ali in the 100m hurdles, it was still a vintage year on the Cote d'Azur. 

As well as a crucial stop on the Road to the Final, the tenth meeting of the season in London in July was also the last chance for athletes to compete on the global stage ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest the following month. Being champions and all, most of them rose to the occasion in style. Shot put world record holder Ryan Crouser went beyond the 23-metre mark for the first time in the Diamond League campaign, while Noah Lyles also broke a meeting record with an impressive 19.46 in the men's 200m. Wayde Van Niekerk continued his comeback season with a third successive Diamond League win in the 400m, and Marie-Josée Ta Lou fuelled her hopes of a first championship gold with a strong 10.75 in the women's 100m. It was Femke Bol who stole the headlines, however, clocking a jaw-dropping 51.45 to set a new European and Diamond League record in the women's 400m hurdles.