Duplantis, Fraser-Pryce suffer defeats at Brussels Diamond League

Armand Duplantis failed to clear a height of 5.91 metres in three attempts, while Fraser-Pryce lost to Shericka Jackson.

Ernest Obiena of the Philippines beat Sweden’s Armand Duplantis at the Brussels Diamond League on Friday. | Photo Credit: AFP

Armand Duplantis and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce suffered shock defeats at the Diamond League meet in Brussels on Friday.

World, Olympic and European pole vault champion Duplantis, also the world record holder, failed three times at 5.91 metres.

That failure handed victory to Ernest Obiena of the Philippines. It was Duplantis’ first defeat in a dominant season in which he won two world titles, indoor and out, setting two new world records in the process.

There was a similar upset in the women’s 100m, Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson trumping five-time world champion Fraser-Pryce.

Jackson, crowned 200m word champion in Oregon in July, clocked 10.73 seconds in a photo-finish with her teammate, at one-hundredth of a second.

“It felt good. I wanted to execute a good start,” said Jackson. “I was excited. I wanted to come out here and perform my very best and come out next week and do the same” at the Diamond League finals in Zurich.