BUDAPEST, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- Sweden's world record holder Armand Duplantis won the men's pole vault with 6.20 meters as the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship opened on a chilly, rainy night in Budapest on Friday.
With the temperature dropping to around 13 degrees Celsius, the two-time Olympic champion remained flawless through 6.20m before raising the bar to 6.32m in an attempt to improve his own world record by one centimeter. However, he missed all three attempts.
Greek star Emmanouil Karalis finished second with 6.15m, while Norway's Sondre Guttormsen took third with 5.95m.
"I approached this event with a combination of a lot of nerves and excitement," Duplantis said. "This was a missing piece for me, to become the Ultimate champion."
Duplantis, who wrote the song Gold for the championships, will sing the song on the last day of competition.
In the women's high jump, Olympic champion and world record holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine won the title with 1.99m. She later attempted 2.04m without success and used her familiar sleeping bag to stay warm between jumps. Australia's Nicola Olyslagers was second with 1.95m.
The first title of the championship went to the United States in the mixed 4x100m relay, with a winning time of 39.64 seconds. Jamaica finished second in 39.72.
Germany's Merlin Hummel topped the men's hammer with 81.46m, Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway took the men's 5,000m title in 12:59.24, and Italy's Larissa Iapichino won the women's long jump with 6.90m.
American Masai Russell claimed victory in the women's 100m hurdles in 12.22 seconds, while Ja'Kobe Tharp edged compatriot Cordell Tinch by 0.01 second to win the men's 110m hurdles in 12.94.
The three-day championship runs through Sunday. ■
