Pole Vaulter Wilma Heltelä Disappointed with Diamond League Result

Finnish pole vaulter Wilma Heltelä secured 11th place at the Paris Diamond League competition on Sunday, clearing a height of 4.45 meters. Heltelä began her competition at 4.30 meters, successfully clearing it on her first attempt. She then cleared 4.45 meters on her second try but was unable to surpass higher bars.

Heltelä, who is recovering from an injury, expressed her dissatisfaction with the result. "The result is naturally disappointing, but the positive thing is that the jumps have a lot of energy and potential for higher jumps. It feels like every time I jump, I take a step forward, even if it doesn't show in the result yet," Heltelä stated in a press release from the Finnish Athletics Federation (SUL).

She added that her clearances of the initial heights were satisfactory. "Moving forward with a little more self-confidence from all competitions," Heltelä continued. The competition was won by Angelica Moser of Switzerland with a jump of 4.77 meters. Eliza McCartney of New Zealand and Nina Kennedy of Australia took the next places after clearing 4.70 meters.

Heltelä's next competition is scheduled for July 5 in Athens. Meanwhile, in the men's pole vault, Sweden's Armand Duplantis returned to his top form. After a surprising loss to American Kurtis Marschall in Stockholm earlier in June, Duplantis secured his victory by clearing 6.03 meters on his first attempt. His closest competitors, Baptiste Thiery and 2025 World Championship silver medalist Emmanouil Karalis, were unable to clear 5.93 meters.

Duplantis then skipped the 6.08-meter height and cleared 6.13 meters on his first try, setting a new meeting record. After his win was secured, Duplantis raised the bar to 6.32 meters, one centimeter above his own world record of 6.31 meters, but did not succeed in setting a new record on this occasion.