Karsten Warholm has smashed the European 400m hurdles record again, recording the second-fastest time ever as Thomas Barr finished sixth in the Diamond League Final at the Weltklasse Zurich meeting.
Warholm surged to victory in a stunning 46.92 seconds, obliterating the 47.12 mark the 20-year-old Norwegian clocked in London five weeks ago, having first broken the European record with a 47.33 at the Bislett Games in Oslo in June.
Only Kevin Young has run faster with his famous world record of 46.78 at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.
The reigning world champion was in a major battle over the closing straight with Rai Benjamin of the United States, who looked like he might reel Warholm in over the final fifty metres.
But a resounding final hurdle and strong finish saw the Norwegian score a magnificent win in front of a thunderous crowd in Zurich.
His swift lap also set all-time records for the Weltklasse and Diamond League.
With Diamond League wins at the Golden Gala in Rome and also Oregon to his name this year, Benjamin’s time of 46.98 seconds was itself a lifetime best, recording the fastest losing time in the event’s history.
Other big names in one-lap hurdling were well behind, with Kyron McMaster of the Virgin Islands third in 48.58 and Turkey’s former European champion Yasmani Copello fourth in 48.98.
Barr was sixth in 49.17, close to his season’s best of 49.11 set at the Bislett Games, where the Irishman had finished second behind Warholm’s first big record of the year. It leaves him 27th fastest in the world heading into the World Championships, which get underway in Doha at the end of next month.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo produced a thrilling performance of her own in the women’s 200 metres, an astonishing world lead of 21.74 seconds which was just over quarter-of-a-second better than the outgoing mark of 22.00 set by Elaine Thompson at the Jamaican Championships in Kingston in June.
It was also a national record, Diamond League record and just 0.08 outside the 29-year-old meeting record of 21.66 held since 1990 by the great Merlene Ottey.
Elsewhere, Noah Lyles was crowned 100m Diamond League champion with a win in 9.98 seconds ahead of Xie Zhenye of China and Jamaica’s former world champion Yohan Blake, but Lyles still is only aiming at the 200m in Doha.
Having just turned 20 herself, Sydney McLaughlin enjoyed a resounding victory in the women’s 400m hurdles.
A kamikaze run from Nijel Amos saw Botswana’s Olympic silver-medallist from London 2012 lead by a large amount until fading in the final straight, overtaken by Donavan Brazier, handing the American the Diamond League crown.
And an amazing first-round attempt of 8.65 metres saw the exciting Juan Echevarria of Cuba see off world champion Luvo Manyonga, fresh off the South African’s recent Cork City Sports win that saw him break the long-standing Irish All-Comers Record.
Thirty centimetres off Mike Powell’s 1991 world record, it scored Echeverria a new world lead, and proved to be his only successful attempt of the evening.
Magnus Kirt of Estonia was crowned javelin champion, thanks to a final-round effort of 89.13m, that upended long-time leader Cheng Chao-Tsun of Chinese Taipei.