Thompson ends with flourish, no WR push for Jebet

Jamaican Elaine Thompson stamped her seal of authority on the women's 200m at Zurich's Diamond League meet on Thursday, but hopes of world record tilts from Kendra Harrison and Ruth Jebet came to nothing.

Recently-crowned double Olympic sprint champion Thompson timed 21.85 seconds to win a stellar 200m, maintaining her form right through to the end to pip Dutch world champion Dafne Schippers by just 0.01sec.

American three-time world champion and 2012 Olympic gold medallist Allyson Felix was third (22.02).

"I came out a winner and I'm happy!" said Thompson. "This is a blast. I came out to execute well.

"It's been a long season, my last stop will be in Brussels next week. I haven't been home since Rio and I'm longing to get back to Jamaica."

Schippers was left content with her time, her second fastest ever. "This year, I had quite a few struggles. I hope to come back stronger next year," she said.

"For the world championships in 2017, I will have to work on everything in the 200: start, curve, execution, speed and finish."

The last world record set in Zurich dated back to 2009 when Russia's Yelena Isinbayeva raised the bar to 5.06 metres in the women's pole vault.

Expectations were high for another after Kenyan-born Bahraini Ruth Jebet obliterated the 3000m steeplechase world record last week in Paris.

But a flagging Jebet, whose Olympic gold was the first-ever for the Gulf state, had to content herself with a race victory in 9min 07.00sec, more than 14sec off her record mark.

"I'm happy I won the race tonight and the Diamond Race too," said Jebet. "When I beat the record it felt good but I didn't think I could be that fast."

There were high-quality match-ups throughout the deep fields at the 25,000 sell-out at the Letzigrund Stadium in perfect conditions.

France's Renaud Lavillenie got a measure of revenge over surprise Olympic pole vault gold medallist Thiago Braz of Brazil.

The Frenchman, famously reduced to tears by jeering from the host nation's partisan, Braz-backing fans, finished equal first with American Sam Hendricks with a best of 5.90 metres, with nothing to differentiate the duo on countback.

Braz was third, deciding to retire after having cleared 5.84m. The victory topped a remarkable seventh consecutive Diamond Race victory for Lavillenie, who like 15 other winners will leave Switzerland $40,000 better off as one of the 16 discipline winners on the night.

The 16 others will be decided at a second final next week in Brussels

The Olympic podium was also repeated in the women's 800m, this time in the right order as South African Caster Semenya clocked 1min 56.44sec to win comfortably ahead of Burundi's Francine Niyonsaba and Kenyan Margaret Wambui.

"I am a bit tired and it was a little bit hard!" said Semenya, long touted as the runner to finally beat Czech Jarmila Kratochvilova's world record of 1:53.28 set back in 1983, a full 2sec quicker than the South African's personal best.

"I was not ready for the world record this year," Semenya said. "But I couldn't ask for more, this has been an excellent year for me."

None of the US team that led a sweep in the women's 100m hurdles in Rio were on show, but to no avail, as one American who should have been there but botched the cut-throat US Olympic trials triumphed.

Kendra Harrison, who rebounded from her trials disappointment to set a new world record at last month's Diamond League meet in London, won in 12.63sec ahead of US-born Briton Cindy Ofili and 2008 Olympic champion Dawn Harper-Nelson.

In the field, New Zealand's Olympic bronze medallist Tom Walsh threw 22.20 metres for a new Oceania record and Croatia's double Olympic champion Sandra Perkovic brought an unbeaten season to an end with discus victory (68.44m) for a fifth consecutive Diamond Race title.

And Jamaican Asafa Powell dipped under the 10-sec barrier for a record 98th time to time 9.94sec to win the 100m and snatch the Diamond Race from Ivorian Ben Youssef Meite.

Importantly for Powell in the highly-competitive world of Jamaican sprinting, the overall Diamond Race title guarantees him a wildcard entry for next year's world championships in London.