Duplantis, Hassan, Mboma look back on a special night in Brussels

Mondo Duplantis: "I never had more fun in a competition"

Mondo Duplantis was quite literally the highlight of this Allianz Memorial Van Damme, setting his own meet record to 6.05m. "This was maybe my best ever competition," Duplantis reacted.

"Of course I jumped higher when I beat the world record, but today I recorded six jumps above six metres. My last two world record attempts at 6.19m looked really good, I was really close there."

It took officials over 15 minutes to get the bar at the correct world record height, but rather than losing momentum Duplantis pushed on for three attempts. "Just let me jump, I thought," the 21-year-old Swede explained.

"I wanted to keep going on the rhythm of this competition. Honestly, it felt like I was weightless tonight. That's the feeling I got from the support of the many fans.
 
"This was pure joy. All the other competitions were over and I was the only athlete out there. But all the spectators stayed and applauded me. I wanted to reward them by showing how beautiful our discipline is. Hopefully I managed to do that."

Sifan Hassan: "I am really happy"
 
"This night was so enjoyable," double Olympic champion Sifan Hassan said after winning the mile. "I am really happy that I can run my second or third best time ever after a tough season. Next week I'll start in Zürich, another short distance with the 1500m. In my head I can't run any longer distances right now. After Tokyo I am done with 5,000m and 10,000m for a while.
 
"After Zürich I will take a two-month vacation, it's necessary to recover from this hard season. I was so busy the past few weeks I didn't even get around to planning my vacation. Tonight the first few laps were maybe a bit fast, the pacemakers were running at world record pace. It was never my goal to attack the record I got two years ago in Monaco. 

"Halfway the pace dropped a bit, but on the final lap I gave everything I had. In the end I still got close to the world record." 

Christine Mboma: "I don't know what my limits are"

Following in the footsteps of Frankie Fredericks, Christine Mboma is Namibia's latest sprint sensation. Aged only 18, Mboma took a stunning silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games. At the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, she won on her 200m Wanda Diamond League debut.
 
"This is only the fifth or sixth time I started on this distance," Mboma explained. "I don't really know what my limits are. Give me a year or two to find out. If my start improves as well, I might try the 100 metres.

"What I do know is that an 18-year-old also gets exhausted after a long and hard season, so now is not the time for big statements."