Duplantis ever higher, PSG ever stronger, Norris ever faster… The sports recap of the weekend

Football, athletics, Formula 1 and cycling… There was a lot of sports news this weekend preceding the start of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

There was (almost) something for everyone on Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 August. While the Paralympic Games will open this Wednesday in Paris for ten days, Ligue 1, Formula 1 and the Tour of Spain punctuated the sports weekend, while Armand Duplantis’ new world record put the Diamond League meeting in Chorzow in the spotlight.

Ligue 1: Paris shines, Lyon sinks into crisis

PSG took the lead in the championship after improving their goal difference on Friday at the start of the second day. Close to a perfect performance, Luis Enrique’s men put on a show for their first match of the season at the Parc des Princes against Montpellier (6-0), with six gems including a double from Bradley Barcola. Like the Parisians, Lille, Lens and Monaco all had a second win.

ASM also pushed Lyon into crisis on Saturday at the Groupama Stadium (0-2). Without a goal scored and still with zero points on the board, Pierre Sage’s Gones are last in the championship and must manage the questions surrounding their transfer window, in addition to those surrounding a tactic that does not seem to be working. Their rivals from Saint-Etienne were also beaten for the return of Ligue 1 to Geoffroy-Guichard against Le Havre (0-2), while Marseille, held by Reims (2-2), missed the opportunity to follow the train of the teams with six points.

Pole vault: new world record for Duplantis

Higher and higher. Pole vaulter Armand Duplantis broke the world record in his discipline for the tenth time since February 2020 with a jump of 6.26 m achieved at a Diamond League meeting in Chorzow, Poland, on Sunday. And this, only twenty days after having cleared 6.25 m during his second Olympic title at the Paris Games.

At 24, the Swedish athlete is pushing the limits of his sport, centimeter by centimeter. Before this new benchmark established on his second attempt, he had disgusted the competition by easily winning the competition with three jumps at 5.62 m, 5.92 m and 6.00 m to dominate the American Sam Kendricks (6 m) and the Greek Emmanouil Karalis (6 m) in a repeat of the Olympic podium.

Formula 1: Norris frustrates Verstappen on home soil

Since the return of the Dutch Grand Prix to the calendar in 2021, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) had never been beaten on his home circuit. Zandvoort, whether in qualifying or in the race. For the return of Formula 1 after the summer break, the Dutch triple world champion was this time dominated by Lando Norris (McLaren).

In his orange car, the Briton took pole position on Saturday, before claiming his second victory of the season on Sunday. After missing his start – a habit when he starts in the lead – the 24-year-old driver took back first place from the crowd’s favourite. At the finish, he even put more than 22 seconds in his sight. Enough to get back to 70 points behind Verstappen in the standings.

Vuelta: O’Connor remains leader despite fireworks

Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale) is firmly attached to his leader’s jersey. A solo winner on Thursday, he had relegated Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) to almost five minutes. The Slovenian certainly took 56 seconds off him on Saturday on the final climb to Cazorla by winning the stage as a bonus, but he was unable to let him go on the big mountain stage on Sunday, unlike Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost) and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), who raised his arms and got back into the general classification after his co-leader, Joao Almeida, retired due to Covid. The Australian red jersey has a lead of 3’53” over Roglic, 4’32” over Carapaz and 4’35” over Enric Mas (Movistar) on this first rest day on Monday.

Paralympics: the flame lit and already in France

It was in pouring rain that the Paralympic flame was lit on Saturday afternoon in the suburbs of London. Paris 2024 boss Tony Estanguet and Andrew Parsons, president of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), were also present in Stoke Mandeville, the birthplace of these Paralympic Games.

After a relay on Sunday carried out under the Channel by British and French scouts, it landed in Calais in France. Divided into 12 flames, the sacred fire will now travel across several parts of the territory to finish its course in Paris on Wednesday, the day of the opening ceremony of these “JP” at the Place de la Concorde.