Records tumble as Denny claims Diamond League title and Olyslagers soars to equal world lead

Australia’s Matthew Denny has cemented his status as one of the world’s premier athletes after being crowned champion at the Diamond League Final in Eugene, USA with an Australian record alongside Nicola Olyslagers who made it a pair with an equal world lead for silver. 

Matthew Denny (Dale Stevenson) is the Diamond League Champion for the first time, having added 19cm to his Australian discus record when producing the throw of his life with 68.43m to seal his triumph. 

Asserting his dominance from his first throw, the gentle giant of Australian athletics opened his Eugene campaign with a throw of 64.97m to take the lead, before being relegated to third after the completion of the second round. The Allora product hovered in place contention before a clutch final-attempt saw him unleash 68.43m to claim the crown.

“I’m very happy with this today and it’s a great way to end the year. I thought I was in good nick but it was good to connect and put it together on the last meet of the year when a lot of other people might be fried or over this season,” Denny said. 

Denny defeated global heavyweights, second-place getter and former world champion Kristjan Ceh (Slovenia, 67.64m) and reigning Olympic and world champion Daniel Stahl (Sweden, 67.36), giving him a boost of confidence having narrowly missed out on a podium at the World Athletics Championships in Hungary, last month. 

“I was pretty keen to make amends for Budapest, so I’m happy with that. To get the win on one of the biggest comps of the year makes the fourth-place a little less sour in my mouth to say the least,” Denny said. 

“Nothing has really changed in regards to my focus for next year. I want to win (the Paris Olympic Games) and be on top, but this confirms my thoughts that I can mix it with the boys and take on those guys who are supposedly unbeatable. It’s either catch up or get left behind, and I don’t want to get left behind. I want to compete and I respect these guys, but it’s about being able to step up when it counts.”

Going higher than any Australian woman in history,  Nicola Olyslagers (Matt Horsnell) improved on her equal Oceania record by one-centimetre when soaring over 2.03m in the Women’s High Jump - finishing in second place on countback to Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh.

“I’m feeling really thankful of the year that’s been and the personal best was always the plan this year. To do it on my final competition was a blessing, and when I cleared 2.03m, I felt like I was running faster than I ever have before in those last few steps,” Olyslagers said.

“I thought for a second, ‘are my legs going to be able to hold this?’ It felt so fast and so powerful but I was able to do it and when I did it, I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, it was what was missing all year!

Becoming the outright Oceania record holder after previously sharing the 2.02m mark with Eleanor Patterson, Olyslagers also maintained her status as the equal world leader to cap off an outstanding 2023 campaign which featured nine wins from 12 competitions. 

“I want to do a personal best at the Olympic Games.The goal is always the same - I want to get that 10 out of 10 jump like I did today and be able to really feel that I’m reaching my full potential and reach my platform in the right way,” Olyslagers said. 

Olyslagers finished on the podium at every one of her competitions in 2023, including the World Championships in Budapest where she returned to the global podium with bronze.

Adding to the Australian success in Eugene, Brooke Buschkuehl (Russell Stratton) bounced back from World Championships disappointment to land in fourth place with a 6.71m (+1.0) leap, overcoming early trouble with three fouls to begin the competition. 

The compact competition saw just 17cm separate the Diamond League crown from fifth place, as world champion Ivana Vuleta (Serbia) produced a final round leap of 6.85m to win on countback over Ese Brume (Nigeria). 

In his second appearance at the Diamond League Final, middle-distance star Stewart McSweyn (Nic Bideau) made a bid for the 3000m title, finishing his campaign with a season’s best of 7:31.14. 

The Tasmanian placed eighth in what was one of the fastest 3000m races in history, as Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigsten charged across the line in a world lead time of 7:23.63, claiming the Diamond League record and a new personal best. Two other National Records were broken as Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha (7:23.64) took silver ahead of Grant Fisher (USA, 7:25.47).

World Championships medallist Kurtis Marschall (Paul Burgess) brought his season to a close with a 5.72m clearance to finish in fourth place of the Men’s Pole Vault, missing the podium on countback to the USA’s Sam Kendricks after requiring three attempts at 5.72m. 

Keeping a clean sheet up until that point, Marschall separated himself from the man he shared bronze with at the World Championships in Budapest, Christopher Nilsen (USA) while reigning world champion Armand Duplantis (Sweden) flew to a new world record of 6.23m. 

In her final race of the year, Catriona Bisset (Ned Brophy Williams) placed sixth in the 800m, clocking 1:58.35, as USA’s Athing Mu charged across the finish line in 1:54.96, to become world leader and the national and meet record holder.

By Lachlan Moorhouse and Sascha Ryner, Athletics Australia
Posted: 18/9/2023