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.”
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