Lake made history on the first day of the Diamond League final, becoming the first British woman to clear two metres

The 2025 Diamond League final began in an unusual but atmospheric setting at Sechseläutenplatz in central Zürich on Wednesday (Aug 27), where six field event finals were staged in front of a lively crowd on the city streets. Among the standout moments of the evening was a significant milestone for Morgan Lake, who cleared 2.00m in the women’s high jump to finish third and break new ground in British athletics history.

It was a breakthrough moment for Lake, who became the first British woman ever to join the two-metre club. The clearance surpassed her own national record of 1.99m, set indoors in 2023 in Hustopeče.

She said: "I feel like it's something I've dreamed about for so long and I've visualised myself going over two metres over and over again and I was started to think will I ever jump it? But I just knew I would, I just didn't know when I would.

"It's weird because this season I've had so many times where I've thought today is going to be the day I jump two metres and it hasn't happened. I think at the London Diamond League I felt myself getting so close and I knew it was in me but I didn't know it would be today. Today was about being competitive because I wanted to win."

The competition itself was of exceptional quality. For the first time since the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, four athletes cleared 2.00m. Nicola Olyslagers of Australia took the win with a national record of 2.04m, with Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh of Ukraine finishing second after clearing 2.02m. Lake’s 2.00m earned her third place ahead of Yuliya Levchenko, who also cleared 2.00m but had more failures on her record.

In the men’s pole vault, Mondo Duplantis successfully defended his Diamond League title — but not without a challenge. The Swede cleared 6.00m to claim his fifth straight trophy, but was matched at the same height by Emmanouil Karalis, who lost out only on countback. Sam Kendricks took third with a best of 5.80m.

"It was tough," said Duplantis. "I just take what the day is giving you and today wasn't giving me a good day with big poles, big grips and big heights. It was just a competition where I had to battle and Emmanouil jumped super amazing considering everything and I just had to fight today."

Simon Ehammer gave the Swiss crowd something to celebrate with victory in the men’s long jump. Competing in a one-off appearance before turning his focus to the decathlon at the World Championships, Ehammer jumped 8.32m to win by just two centimetres over Italy’s Mattia Furlani, who reached 8.30m. Liam Adcock of Australia completed the top three with 8.24m.

World and Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece could manage only 7.60m and placed sixth.

In a joint men’s and women’s shot put competition, Jessica Schilder continued her strong 2025 form with a best throw of 20.26m, winning by a clear margin. The Dutch athlete outperformed Chase Jackson (20.08m) and Sarah Mitton (19.99m) to take the women's title. Mitton was initially given the victory but her throw of 20.67m was later disqualified.

The men’s title went to Joe Kovacs, who ended his season on a high after missing out on the US team for the World Championships. The two-time world champion produced a best of 22.46m, enough to see off Payton Otterdahl (22.07m) and Rajindra Campbell (21.87m) in a competitive field.

Originally set for Thursday, the women’s pole vault was brought forward to Wednesday afternoon due to forecasts of poor weather. The early switch didn’t faze Katie Moon, who cleared 4.82m to take the title. Sandi Morris settled for second with 4.75m, while Emily Grove equalled her personal best of 4.75m to place third.