Pole vaulter breaks world record – for the 12th time
This marks the 12th time the 25-year-old has broken the world record, adding 1cm to his previous best.
Duplantis said that breaking the record at Stadion, with his family present, felt like the Olympics.
He won the Diamond League event, with Kurtis Marschall of Australia finishing second with a best of 5.90m.
Duplantis described the achievement as a 'cloud nine feeling'.
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
‘One of our own': How grieving Portugal remembered ‘eternal' Diogo Jota at Euro 2025
From the darkness, Portugal were faced with an impossible task: to bring some light into the world after the heartbreaking tragedy of losing one of their own. The death of Diogo Jota, killed in a car crash with his brother Andre Silva in the early hours of Thursday morning, had shaken the Portugal team when they woke up on the morning of their opening match of Euro 2025 against Spain. Afterwards, a 5-0 defeat to the world champions barely scratches the surface in the face of such a loss. 'Today is a sad day,' the Portugal head coach Francisco Neto said. 'To lose two lives, so young, of course it is hard. We are thinking of the family.' For Neto, and for many players in the Portugal team, this felt personal too. Neto had previously worked with Jota when in charge of Portugal's Under-19s, and they had stayed in touch as he went on to make 49 appearances for Portugal's senior team and star in the Premier League for Liverpool. In turn, Jota followed their results and kept track of the progress of the Navegadoras. 'Diogo, when we talked, he always knew the results,' Neto remembered with a smile. Jota's support of the women's team was a matter of pride for him. 'This is the culture we have in Portugal, the culture we are building,' he said. In the hours before kick-off against Spain, almost every Portugal player posted a broken heart emoji or message on Instagram. In forward Jessica Silva's tribute to Jota, she called him 'one of our own'. At the end of their 5-0 defeat, some of Portugal's players went into their stands behind the far goal and emerged with a banner. 'Thank you for everything Diogo Jota,' it read. There is a chance that only a few of Portugal's players had crossed paths with Jota, but it was clear the warmth and humility that has been spoken about by his team-mates and coaches shone through to them as well. "Diogo wasn't just a star,' Silva continued. 'It was the good, the faithful, the attentive, the simple ... of those who don't need noise to mark their presence! Football has gone poorer ... and so are we. You will never be forgotten." The shock of Jota's death reinforces the idea that life, like a match, a major tournament and a football career, can be fragile and fleeting. And the moments where life can feel all the more precious, where you want to hold the most important people a little closer, those are the times that can also put football into some perspective, while bringing others together. The story of an emotional night in Bern was in one part the sense of grief and mourning, but there was also the irrepressible noise of the Portugal fans and the manner in which they bounced and sang, as if determined to embrace what they had. It began in poignant silence to remember the brothers, broken only by a beautifully solemn ripple of applause that worked its way around the whole stadium. The Portugal fans in green and red then chanted Jota's name, with a strip of supporters holding up letters spelling out "Rest in peace, Diogo Jota". Another read: 'You took the name of Portugal beyond borders, now it's our turn to raise your name.' One simply stated: 'Eternal Diogo Jota'. It took less than two minutes for Spain to score, as Esther Gonzalez controlled a long pass with her shoulder and flicked her finish into the net to set the tone for a dominant night. Portugal were second best to Spain throughout, just as, one may suspect, many teams at Euro 2025 will be. The world champions put on an impressive, professional opening performance, lit up by Alexia Putellas. Injured on the eve of the Euros three years ago, Putellas is playing as if she is desperate to make up for lost time. She scored Spain's third and was named player of the match, with Gonzalez scoring twice, the 18-year-old Vicky Lopez adding one and Cristina Martin-Prieto finding the fifth in stoppage time. They played at a level that Portugal could not match. 'We were not able to put pressure on Spain,' Neto admitted. 'We know this was a very strong team.' But they were not dealing with what Portugal faced. And still, even as Portugal trailed in the 88th minute and with hope long gone, their supporters held up scarves and defiantly sang the national anthem. If it looked a little bit like a rendition of 'You'll Never Walk Alone', there was a significance there as well: that, after all, was the message Portugal wanted to send.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Estevao Willian: Can ‘best since Neymar' knock out his new club Chelsea?
Chelsea have recruited plenty of promising young players since their takeover by BlueCo, the consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, in 2022. So much so that it feels like an orderly queue of talented teenagers forms annually outside Stamford Bridge. This summer, Kendry Páez, 18, arrived from Ecuador after a pre-agreement in 2023. Mike Penders, the 19-year-old former Genk goalkeeper, has joined too. In the future, there is Geovany Quenda, 18, of Sporting Lisbon, reportedly full back Denner, 17, of Corinthians, and the Kazakh wonderkid Dastan Satpaev, 16, all to arrive in 2026. All hold much promise for the future, but none are seen as quite the sure bet that is Estêvão Willian, the 18-year-old Palmeiras star who will, by a twist of fate and a specific agreement in his transfer, face his new employers Chelsea in the Club World Cup quarter-finals on Saturday (2am). His star is no secret. 'One day he will be voted the best player in the world,' Leila Pereira, the president of Palmeiras, told The Athletic this year. 'He's a spectacular kid and he's going to shine in Europe.' 'He's not matured physically yet and that's what amazes everyone and makes them think that he will reach a much higher level,' said João Paulo Sampaio, the head of the club's academy. Palmeiras, of course, have a vested interest in building up his profile. But the view that he is an exceptional player is not held in isolation. It is almost unanimous. 'All of us who work with football consider Estêvão to be the best Brazilian player after Neymar,' one Brazilian agent, who works with the country's leading clubs, told The Times. 'Better than Vini Jr, and anyone else who came after Neymar.' Agents, sporting directors and scouts, particularly in South America, all concur about his ability. Of the talent Chelsea have accumulated in recent seasons within their policy of finding the world's brightest prospects, Estêvão stands above the rest. 'An amazing player, the next after Neymar, but with a much better mentality,' explains another Brazilian agent. 'Professional, easy going, humble. He has the potential to be one of the top three in the world.' He has been tracked by all and sundry in Europe. 'He's en route to be an important player in the football world over the next decade,' says Mário Branco, the former sporting director at Fenerbahce, who worked with Estêvão's head coach, Abel Ferreira, at Greek side PAOK. 'He has won matches on his own for Palmeiras.' So who is this kid with the world at his feet? Estêvão has been nicknamed 'little Messi', but it is a nickname he does not like. He is a left-footed wide player who likes to cut in from the right, but is comfortable in a central role. His mastery of the ball is his alchemy; a puppeteer's close control mixed with speed and agility, and then composure to match in the final third. His future has been mapped out from a very young age. When eight, his family — his younger sister, mother and father — left their lives behind to follow him to the city of Belo Horizonte, the home of Cruzeiro, a seven-hour drive away. He became the youngest player to be sponsored by Nike, at the age of ten. Four years later, he was picked up by Palmeiras and made his senior debut within two years. He was part of a talented generation to emerge at the club, including striker Endrick, now at Real Madrid, defender Vitor Reis, now at Manchester City, and Luis Guilherme, at West Ham United. His upbringing kept him grounded; his father was a church pastor in Franca, while his mother worked in a shoe factory. He is known to be shy, with the dream to follow Neymar and play for the Selecao; which he accomplished last season against Ecuador in September. Last season, in 2024, he scored 13 goals and provided nine assists in 31 games, helping his team finish second behind Botafogo. Ferreira, the highly rated head coach who built his reputation initially in Sporting Lisbon's academy and has since won two Copa Libertadores titles with Palmeiras, has been instrumental in his development. 'He knows what he needs to do tomorrow,' Ferreira said on Thursday. 'I hope he gives his best for the owners of Chelsea, they look at him with potential and all the quality he has. It will be an opportunity for him to show how good he is. We will expect his best, the maximum in attack and defence and maybe he will score a goal to give a goodbye for our fans. We helped him to grow as a man and a professional. It could be a moment to give him a goodbye with one amazing game.' Signing Estêvão feels like a coup for Chelsea, who he will join once Palmeiras are eliminated. They agreed the transfer in May 2024, worth an initial £29million and potentially £15million more in add-ons, after a concerted push, which also coincided with an expansion of their overseas network in South America. Part of that saw the appointments of scouts Alysson Marins, in July 2023, who previously led Corinthians scouting department, as well as Carlos Eduardo Arissa Vargas in February 2024, who was previously Monaco's eyes and ears in South America. But it was mainly convincing the player of their project that ensured they beat the world's biggest clubs to his signature. 'A lot of people are asking me why we chose Chelsea, but they don't understand how much Chelsea wanted me, and how much belief they have in my potential,' Estêvão told the Players' Tribune. 'Those people don't know about the project they presented to us. To a young player, these things matter a lot, and I know we've made the right decision to go to London.' Estêvão spoke of his anxiety about joining Chelsea during the past month. The step is a huge one in his career. The Premier League can be an unforgiving environment and European football will be a change. It is also a physical league and some in top-flight recruitment highlight that as his biggest hurdle. 'Premier League clubs are chasing the best athletes around,' says one. 'The challenge will be finding a way to cope. But for me he's an incredible talent. By far the best of anyone at his age.' 'It will be a challenge for him how he adapts to the more structured and tactically rigid football in Europe,' says Branco. 'As we could see that sometimes in big games in Brazil, and also with the Club World Cup, he struggled to bring his A-Game, possibly due to greater physicality, or eventually more organised defensive blocks.' Before this summer, Chelsea had signed nine players directly from South America since 2000, with Oscar only truly the most successful. Bucking that trend will not be easy. He'll need time to settle. Cole Palmer is among the Chelsea players to have already reached out to him ahead of his arrival. He will have conflicted loyalties on Saturday, in the most unusual circumstances. Yet most in the game have little doubt that Estêvão's future will find a way to success. Amid all the rough diamonds, he might be Chelsea's brightest find yet. Palmeiras v Chelsea
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
My dream came true, his bride wrote about their wedding. Just 11 days later, Liverpool star Diogo Jota died in late-night Lamborghini crash, writes GUY ADAMS
On what would turn out to be the very last afternoon of his short life, Diogo Jota used Instagram to post a 75-second video montage of his recent wedding to Rute Cardoso, the mother of his three children. It had, he declared, been 'a day we shall never forget'. Rute, his childhood sweetheart, also posted photos of last month's festivities, which had involved a Catholic ceremony at one of Porto's most fetching Renaissance churches followed by a lavish reception at a castle in the hills outside their native city. 'My dream came true,' she said. 'But I'm the lucky one,' replied her newly-minted husband. The touching exchange, which remains online next to photos of the happy couple posing at the altar, only adds to the unspeakable sense of tragedy about the 28-year-old Liverpool footballer's sudden death, so soon afterwards. Jota's two young sons – Dinis, four, and Duarte, two – can be seen in some of the accompanying images, alongside their infant sister. They wear identical blue suits to the groom, plus a touchingly similar smile on a happy family occasion which, cruelly, is destined to be among their last memories of their father. It's perhaps a cliché to say that superstars who perish at the height of their powers were cut down in their prime. But there is surely no better way to describe the tragic loss of a role model whose recent career had taken him to the very peak of professional football. Recent weeks had not only seen Diogo Jota lift the Premier League trophy for an English club whose fans have taken him to their hearts since his arrival four years ago, but also win the Nations League with Portugal in Munich, coming on in extra time of a gripping final against rivals Spain which ended via a penalty shootout. The exact circumstances of his death in the early hours of yesterday morning, on the A-52 highway in northern Spain, are still being pieced together. However early reports suggest that Diogo and his brother Andre Silva came off the road after suffering a tyre blowout while overtaking at speed. Their car, a lime green Lamborghini Huracan Evo Spyder, a model which starts at around £188,000 and has a top speed of 202mph, appears to have then hit the central reservation before coming off the road and bursting into flames. Both Diogo and Andre, who is also a professional footballer for the Portuguese second division side Penafiel, seem to have perished by the time emergency services arrived. Photographs of the scene, near to a remote town named Cernadilla, show charred remains of the supercar next to pieces of crash barrier on the blackened grass. 'The information we have so far is that the car... was in a road traffic accident and left the road due to a tyre blowout while overtaking,' said a spokesman for Spain's Guardia Civil yesterday. 'The car caught on fire and the two occupants were killed.' The brothers are reported to have been driving through the night to Santander, from where they intended to catch a ferry to Portsmouth. Jota, who was due back in the UK for pre-season training, had been advised not to fly after having a scheduled operation on his lungs to fix an unspecified pulmonary condition just a few days earlier. In the cash-soaked and often highly rapacious world of modern football, fans are now mourning that rarest of breeds: a genuine gentleman, and model professional who wore his stratospheric wealth and talent remarkably lightly. A picture of respectability, alongside his heavily tattooed contemporaries, he played with a smile on his face and fierce work ethic, rarely berating officials or indulging in theatrics designed to secure cheap free kicks. Off the pitch, he preferred quiet domestic gatherings with childhood sweetheart Rute to the dimly lit fleshpots of Premier League lore. Perhaps his only vice was video gaming, a pursuit in which he invested endless hours, competing in the recent eSports world cup in Saudi Arabia. The family home on Merseyside reputedly contained an entire room devoted to the hobby, kitted out with special chairs and vast plasma screens. In 2021, he achieved the No.1 ranking globally in an online game FIFA Ultimate Team (later FC Ultimate Team). As for Rute, who he'd married just 12 days ago, she was a genuine childhood sweetheart. The couple had met at high school in Porto, when they were both aged 13, and chronicled their journey from love-struck teenagers to fame and fortune via social media feeds. Diogo's new wife Rute shared more wedding day pictures in a social media post yesterday and said: 'My dream come true.' Jota replied in the comments: 'I'm the lucky one.' Alongside a host of family portraits, which now take on extraordinary poignancy, their Instagram accounts contain endless images of the couple's three pet beagles, plus occasional photos of the exotic holidays that £140,000-a-week footballers are able to afford. Recent months had brought visits to Sardinia, Dubai and Lapland, while previous off seasons had taken them to the Maldives and Mauritius. Last night, the devastated Rute posted to Instagram a video of the moment Jota had proposed to her, in 2022. It begins with a footage of a picturesque lake, where a table is set up for dinner, with an engagement ring in a white box on the table. The couple can then be seen embracing and running together across a candlelit lawn. In normal circumstances, such footage might be considered schmaltzy. Given yesterday's events, it just feels incredibly sad. Jota was born Diogo José Teixeira da Silva, on December 4, 1996, and grew up in Aguiar, a working-class suburb of Porto. His father Joaquim, who in his youth had played for a lower league club called UD Sousense, worked for a crane firm, while mother Isabel was a factory worker making electronic parts for cars. Diogo and Andre both attended the local primary school and began playing football for the neighbourhood side Gondomar SC before being offered places in the youth system of Pacos de Ferreira, one of Porto's smaller professional clubs. It was here that Diogo chose to use the name 'Jota' to help distinguish himself from other players named Diogo and Silva in the organisation's youth set up. On the field, he nonetheless initially found it hard to stand out, claiming to have been less naturally talented than many of his peers. Yet like many who ultimately succeed in professional sport, he was able to navigate football's greasy pole thanks to a prodigious work ethic. 'This hunger has been with me ever since I can remember,' he told Sky Sports in 2022. 'In my youth, growing up, I never played for the big teams. I had a few teammates who went to Porto or Benfica. I had trials there but I never stayed. I was one of the better ones, but never the best.' Father Joaquim once suggested that Diogo's competitive nature was fuelled by his modest family background. 'He saw first-hand the difficulties his parents faced. We were factory workers, we didn't earn much above the minimum wage and we never hid our limitations from our children,' he told the Spanish sports magazine Maisfutebol in 2020, adding that he felt 'proud and moved' at his son's subsequent success. Jota made his debut for the Pacos de Ferreira senior side in 2014, at the age of 18, and went on to make 47 appearances as either a striker or lively right winger, before being signed by the Spanish giants Atletico Madrid two years later. They deemed him surplus to requirements, so quickly allowed him to return home on loan to Porto, where he scored nine goals in 38 appearances, before sending him to the UK, where he joined then-Championship side Wolves on loan for 2017-18, helping them achieve promotion to the Premier League as champions. His move was made permanent a few months later, and he cemented his status as a bona fide Premier League forward during their first season in the top flight, scoring nine goals as they achieved their best ever Premier League finish of seventh and qualified for the Europa League. Rute, who had followed him to the Black Country, quickly became a devoted Anglophile, posting regularly about her love of British culture, along with the TV show Peaky Blinders. Jota would eventually score 44 goals in 131 appearances for Wolves before Liverpool came calling, signing him in September 2020 for a blockbuster fee of £45 million. There he became a key figure in Jurgen Klopp's squad, playing as a centre-forward as well as a winger, and helping the side win both the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup, while also reaching the final of the Champions League. Last year head coach Arne Slot's first season at the club, Jota scored nine goals in all competitions as Liverpool won the Premier League, the first league title of Jota's career. 'Diogo was the most unassuming footballer', is how one Liverpool insider described his appeal yesterday. 'A model professional, generous with his time. While he wasn't necessarily the main man – like your Mo Salahs, or Cristiano Ronaldos at his international side Portugal – he would run all day, work his socks off, never settle for second best. 'Fans love that, because while people like him might not make all the headlines, he was the type of player you absolutely need if you are going to win the league. The sort of guy who could come on as a sub, after not playing for four games, and score a crucial goal. He'd train perfectly, look after himself, never give the manager headaches. It's just the most unspeakable tragedy that he's gone.'
