Memorial Van Damme sees host of athletics records and an emotional farewell
The Memorial Van Damme athletics meeting in Brussels this weekend was host to one Belgian record, several new meeting records and a tribute to retiring track stars Kevin and Jonathan Borlée.
Held over two days for the first time, the event at the Stade Roi Baudouin saw Sweden’s Armand Duplantis break the meeting record in the pole vault by 1cm at 6m11, while Australian Matthew Denny took the record in the discus with a throw of 69m66, an improvement of 2cm.
With victories in Brussels, Duplantis, American discus star Valarie Allman and Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh all finished the season unbeaten.
"When the announcer called out that I'd run the record, I didn’t quite believe it"
Elise Vanderelst improved her 1,500m Belgian record to 4:01.26 in a race in which Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon set a new meeting record of 3:54.75, erasing the previous record that had stood since 2003.
“I didn’t think I was still on track for the record,” Vanderelst said. “I'd seen 2:42 on the clock at 1km and thought it was going to be difficult. When the announcer called out that I'd run the record, I didn’t quite believe it.”
In the shot put, Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri set a new meeting record, as did Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet from Kenya in the 5,000m.
The event also paid tribute to twins Kevin and Jonathan Borlée, as they called time on a 16-year career representing Belgium in the 400m individual and relay events.
The brothers took a lap of honour and received a standing ovation from the crowd on Saturday night.
“A lot of emotions came out, and I wasn’t expecting that,” Jonathan Borlée said. “It surprised us. At the start of the lap of honour, I said to Kevin: ‘I'm going to break down here’, and in the end, he more or less broke down too. I suddenly realised that this was really the end, much more so than when I got injured and missed the Olympics.”
Nine Belgian athletes have now secured their place in the World Championships, to be held in Tokyo next September.
"I suddenly realised that this was really the end, much more so than when I got injured and missed the Olympics"
The nine are Nafi Thiam and Noor Vidts in the heptathlon, Eliott Crestan in the 800m and Paulien Couckuyt in the 400m hurdles, Jochem Vermeulen in the 1,500m, Peter Sisk in the 800m, Ben Broeders in the pole vault, Isaac Kimeli in the 1,500m and Vanderelst in the 1,500m.
The Memorial Van Damme was held over two days for the first time this year. Next year it will return to its one-day format, earlier in the season on 22 August.
Athletes Jonathan and Kevin Borlée at the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels, 14 September 2024 © BELGA PHOTO JASPER JACOBS
Related news
