World records tumble at Diamond League meeting in Paris

CNN

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World records have fallen at the Diamond League meeting in Paris on Sunday – less than a month before the Olympic Games start in the French capital.

The crowd at Stade Charléty enjoyed their first world record of the day when Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh broke the women’s high jump record.

The world record was previously held by Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova with a height of 2.09m set in 1987.

Mahuchikh eclipsed Kostadinova’s effort by just one centimeter – setting the new world record at 2.10m.

““I am looking forward to the Olympic Games here. I am sure it will be a great competition with an even better atmosphere, but I know it will be hard and very competitive,” Mahuchikh said following her achievement, per Reuters.

“Finally, I signed Ukraine into the history of world athletics.”

Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh broke the world record in the women's high jump. Geoffroy Van der Hasselt/AFP/Getty Images

If fans thought they were lucky to see one world record broken, it wasn’t long before they saw a second tumble.

Kenyan athlete Faith Kipyegon broke her own world record in the women’s 1500m – a distance she has dominated in recent years

Kipyegon set the previous record with a time of 3:49.11 in 2023 but, with the help of pacemakers in Paris, was able to break it with a time of 3:49.04.

Kipyegon and Australian runner Jessica Hull could hardly be separated heading into the final lap of the race but with 200m to go Kipyegon turned it up a gear.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist accelerated away from Hull and charged to the finish line to beat her own world record by just seven hundredths of a second.

“I knew the world record was possible because I recently ran very fast in Kenya,” said Kipyegon, per World Athletics. “I was coming here to just run my race and to see what shape I’m in to defend my title at the Olympics.”

With the Olympics just around the corner, Parisian crowds will need to get used to seeing world records fall with these sure to be just the first of many to be broken in the near future.