Olympic bronze medallist Emmanouil Karalis improved his national pole vault record to 6.08m at the Greek Championships in Volos to move to fourth on the world all-time list on Saturday (2).
During a busy weekend of national championships action, the 25-year-old added three centimetres to his previous Greek record when he cleared 6.08m on his second attempt. He had entered the competition at 5.65m and managed that first time before needing all three attempts to make it over 5.92m and remain in the competition.
The two-time world indoor medallist is now the fourth-best men’s pole vaulter in history, behind only Mondo Duplantis, Renaud Lavillenie and Sergey Bubka.
World and two-time Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou leapt 8.12m to win the long jump, while Elina Tzengko dominated the javelin to claim her sixth national title with a throw of 62.06m.
Fabbri throws world lead in Caorle
Leonardo Fabbri lit up the Italian Championships in Caorle with a world-leading 22.82m in the shot put, breaking the championship record and confirming his superb 2025 form.
Sprint queen Zaynab Dosso dominated the 100m in 11.13 (0.8m/s), clinching her fourth consecutive national title. Fausto Desalu completed a sprint double in the 100m and 200m (10.30/20.66), the first by an Italian man since 1987, while Dalia Kaddari secured her fifth 200m crown in six years with a controlled 23.23.
Nadia Battocletti, fresh off her Olympic silver in the 10,000m, delivered another distance double, storming to victory in the 5000m (15:03.73) and then the 1500m (4:06.12). Behind her in the 5000m, Micol Majori clocked 15:04.32 to become the sixth-fastest Italian woman in history.
World high jump champion Gianmarco Tamberi suffered a shock exit, clearing only 2.10m. The title went to Marco Fassinotti with 2.26m.
Lorenzo Simonelli showed sharp form in the 110m hurdles, clocking 13.18 despite the disruption of a false start in the heats. In the long jump, Mattia Furlani delivered a gem on his final attempt, flying to 8.26m with room to spare on the board. It’s his first outdoor national title and a clear sign that the world indoor champion is ready for more.
In the field, Larissa Iapichino claimed her eighth national title with 6.78m in the long jump, and Olympic bronze medallist Andy Diaz returned to competition with a modest 16.90m to win the triple jump, despite being far from his best.
Francesco Fortunato secured his 18th national title with a solo 10km race walk victory in 39:19. In the women’s 800m, Marta Zenoni surged past Eloisa Coiro to win in 2:00.57, 10 years after her first Italian title.
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Bordier sets world 10,000m race walk best
At the French Championships in Talence, European 20km race walk fourth-place finisher Gabriel Bordier set a world 10,000m race walk best of 37:23.99 – improving on the previous world best of 37:25.21 set by Japan’s Eiki Takahashi in 2020.
Just Kwaou-Mathey broke 13 seconds in the 110m hurdles for the first time, clocking 12.99 (0.3m/s) to take the title and move to second on this season’s world top list. He had earlier run 13.10 in the heats and 13.11 in the semifinals. Sasha Zhoya (13.18) was second in the final and Wilhem Belocian (13.23) was third.
Melvin Raffin also moved to equal second on the world top list by soaring a PB of 17.52m to win the triple jump, while Renaud Lavillenie claimed another pole vault title with a 5.82m clearance.
Yann Schrub beat Jimmy Gressier to the 5000m title, 13:31.15 to 13:31.29, while Tom Campagne soared a PB of 8.27m to win the long jump.
Olympic and two-time world medallist Mélina Robert-Michon won her 24th national discus title with a throw of 61.64m.
Results
Da Silva and Cardoso set South American records in São Paulo
Erik Cardoso and Caio Bonfim kicked off the Brazilian Championships by breaking South American records on the first day of action in São Paulo on Thursday (31).
Erik Cardoso runs a South American 100m record at the Brazilian Championships
Erik Cardoso runs a South American 100m record at the Brazilian Championships (© Gustavo Alves)
Cardoso clocked 9.93 (1.5m/s) to take 0.03 off the area 100m record and win the national title ahead of Felipe Bardi (10.06), who jointly held the previous South American record with Colombia’s Ronal Longa.
Olympic 20km race walk silver medallist Bonfim moved to fourth on the world all-time list for the 20,000m race walk with his South American record of 1:18:37.9. Viviane Lyra also clocked a world lead of 1:30:52.7 to win the women’s title and went on to win the 35,000m race walk on Sunday in a South American record of 2:46:36.
“My coach was with me the whole time. We adjusted everything: the pace, the hydration – we didn’t get anything wrong,” said Lyra, who qualified last year for the 20km race walk in Tokyo.
Among other qualifiers for the World Championships, Luiz Maurício set a South American record in the javelin, reaching 91.00m metres and entering the event’s all-time top 20. “It’s a select group that has achieved this feat”, he said.
It improves his own previous area record by more than four metres and puts him second on this season’s world top list.
Brazil’s star Alison dos Santos, already qualified for both the 400m and the 400m hurdles, did not compete as he prepares for the Diamond League final in Zurich at the end of August.
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Olympic and world champion Ethan Katzberg dominated the hammer contest at the Canadian Championships in Ottawa, throwing 81.33m for the seventh-best winning mark of his career. Two-time world champion Sarah Mitton threw 19.20m to win the shot put, while Olympic and world champion Camryn Rogers threw 77.30m to take the women’s hammer title.
Marco Arop won the 800m in 1:45.44 and Audrey Leduc won the 100m in 11.06 (0.5m/s), after clocking 11.04 in the heats. Duan Asemota took the men’s title in 10.12 (-0.5m/s) ahead of Aaron Brown (10.13).
The 400m races were won by Savannah Sutherland (51.51) and Christopher Morales-Williams (45.16).
Zhang and Yan throw world U20 records in Quzhou
Zhang Jiale and Yan Ziyi both improved their own world U20 records at the Chinese Championships in Quzhou.
First Zhang threw 77.24m* to improve her own world U20 hammer record on Saturday (2). The mark adds more than two metres to her own previous world U20 record of 75.14m achieved in Fränkisch-Crumbach in June, which is awaiting ratification, and is almost four metres farther than the ratified world U20 record of 73.43m set by Finland’s Silja Kosonen in Vaasa in 2021.
Zhang’s 77.24m came in the third round of the competition in Quzhou and the 18-year-old also surpassed the previous record with 76.15m in the final round. All six of her throws were at least 71.55m and she won by six-and-a-half metres.
The world U20 champion now sits fifth on this season’s world top list.
Yan’s world U20 javelin record was achieved on Sunday (3) as the 17-year-old surpassed 65 metres for the first time with 65.89m* to improve by more than a metre. Her previous ratified record is the 64.41m she threw in Quzhou last September, while she also threw 64.83m in Chengdu in March and that mark is awaiting ratification.
The world U20 champion’s 65.89m throw came in the fifth round of the competition and saw her win ahead of Dai Qianqian (62.92m). It moves her to third on this season’s world top list.
Gong Lijiao won the shot put with a 19.79m throw.
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure
World record-holder Mykolas Alekna achieved the third-best winning throw of his career, launching the discus 72.15m at the Lithuanian Championships in Palanga on Saturday (2).
He has now surpassed 70 metres in seven competition so far this season.
He led an Alekna 1-2, his brother Martynas getting silver with 66.01m. The 2017 world champion Andrius Gudžius was third with 65.35m.
The 2024 world indoor 400m silver medallist Lieke Klaver won the 200m ahead of world 400m hurdles champion Femke Bol at the Dutch Championships in Hengelo on Sunday (3).
They were just two hundredths of a second apart, 22.82 to 22.84. Jessica Schilder won the shot put with a throw of 19.46m.
Five championship records were shattered at the UK Championships in Birmingham, including by Dina Asher-Smith and Zharnel Hughes over 200m.
Hughes completed a sprint double despite ever-changing weather conditions. He won the 200m in 19.90 (1.3m/s) after claiming the 100m title in a wind-assisted 9.94 (2.2m/s) ahead of his relay teammate and fellow new dad Jeremiah Azu (9.97).
The trio of Asher-Smith (22.14), Amy Hunt (22.14) and Daryll Neita (22.30) showed up for the packed crowd in the 200m. Hunt also took gold in the 100m with a PB of 11.02.
British record-holder Lawrence Okoye broke a discus championship record that had stood for 40 years with a throw of 65.93m before Anna Purchase broke the hammer championship record with a throw of 72.96m. Elise Thorner also broke a championship record with 9:22.05 to win the 3000m steeplechase.
Molly Caudery retained her pole vault title with the highest outdoor vault in the world so far this year. Equalling the season’s best she set indoors in February, she cleared 4.85m on her third attempt and didn’t attempt any higher.
Back on the track, the 400m saw Diamond League champion Charlie Dobson (45.36) and world indoor champion Amber Anning (50.53) successfully defend their titles.
Keely Hodgkinson was absent due to injury but her training partner and fellow Olympic medallist Georgia Hunter Bell stormed to 800m gold (1:59.53) to keep her options open for the World Championships. Close in tow was Jemma Reekie (2:00:97) who also secured her selection for Tokyo in what has proved to be a competitive field for the Brits. Max Burgin won the men’s title (1:43.92).
Lina Nielsen (55.39) retained her title in the 400m hurdles, while Jazmin Sawyers continued her comeback from injury by regaining the long jump title with a wind-aided 6.82m (4.7m/s) as part of a consistent series.
The weekend finished with the men’s 1500m, in which British athletes have won the last two world titles. But with reigning world champion Josh Kerr running and claiming gold in the 5000m this weekend, the title fight was left wide open. Neil Gourley narrowly took the gold in 3:47.06 after jostling in the closing metres with Elliot Giles (3:47.20).
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María Pérez stormed to a world-leading mark in the 10,000m race walk, while five championship records fell at the Spanish Championships in Tarragona.
María Pérez at the Spanish Championships
María Pérez at the Spanish Championships (© RFEA/Sportmedia)
Double world champion, double Olympic medallist and world record-holder Pérez dominated her event, claiming her fourth national 10,000m race walk title in 42:24.68 – a personal best by more than four minutes.
Jordan Díaz, making his long-awaited return to competition after his Olympic title, successfully defended his national title with a first-round jump – and only attempt – of 17.16m.
In the women’s long jump, two-time world indoor bronze medallist Fátima Diame returned to form with a winning leap of 6.77m, securing her first national outdoor crown since 2020 after a close battle.
Paris Olympic fourth-place finisher Quique Llopis won his third consecutive title in the 110m hurdles, clocking 12.98 (2.3m/s) in the final, which would have been a Spanish record had it not been wind-assisted. He had already matched his PB of 13.09 in the semifinals with a 2.7m/s tailwind.
In the men’s 800m, Mohamed Attaoui – fifth at the Paris Olympics and ninth fastest in history – capped a standout season with his second national title in a row, winning in 1:46.22 ahead of world indoor champion Mariano García (1:46.79).
Jaël Bestué, who earlier this year broke the Spanish 200m record with 22.19, impressed once again in Tarragona. The two-time Olympian broke the championship record twice – first with 22.60 (1.6m/s) in the semifinals, then improving it again in the final with 22.46 (1.9m/s).
In addition to Bestué’s record-breaking performance in the 200m, four other championship records fell over the weekend. Marta García, bronze medallist at the European Championships in Rome 2024, ran 14:59.23 to win the women’s 5000m, breaking a mark that had stood since 1998. Olympic heptathlete María Vicente amassed 6295 points to set a championship record in the heptathlon, with individual performances of 13.77 (100m hurdles), 1.80m (high jump), 13.24m (shot put), 23.77 (200m), 5.92m (long jump), 48.23m (javelin) and 2:13.83 (800m). Jesús David Delgado broke the men’s 400m hurdles record with 48.70, while Paula Sevilla took the women’s 400m in a record-breaking 50.83.
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With a throw of 84.36m, Julian Weber claimed his fifth consecutive javelin title at the German Championships in Dresden. The world and Olympic fourth-place finisher, who holds the world lead of 91.06m from Doha in May, remains confident about resolving minor details ahead of the World Championships in Tokyo.
Despite battling minor hip flexor issues, Malaika Mihambo dominated the women’s long jump with a final jump of 6.82m, securing her 15th national title. Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye took shot put gold with a throw of 19.29m.
Gina Lückenkemper sprinted to victory in the women’s 100m, clocking 11.17 despite a strong headwind (-1.8m/s). Owen Ansah, who became the first German athlete to run under 10 seconds last year, secured his fourth national title in 10.23.
Merlin Hummel, among the global top 10, secured the hammer title with a distance of 78.17m. Marika Steinacker, who is sixth in the world, won the discus with 65.56m.
Karl Bebendorf won the 3000m steeplechase ahead of Frederik Ruppert, 8:32.90 to 8:33.79, while Eileen Demes set a championship record of 54.34 to win the 400m hurdles. Sandrina Sprengel set a PB of 6315 points in the heptathlon, while global medallists Leo Neugebauer and Niklas Kaul decided to test their form in selected disciplines rather than contest the decathlon, which was won by Tim Nowak (8140).
Following his record-breaking victory at the European U23 Championships, Owe Fischer-Breiholz claimed another gold in the 400m hurdles, finishing in 48.41. Meanwhile, emerging hurdling talents Gregory Minoue and Manuel Mordi shared the men’s 110m hurdles title as they both clocked 13.48, a personal best for Minoue.