Host puts in a sparkling show

"There were loads of Olympic and world champions in this race; athletes that I've looked up to. To be able to compete with them, and finish with such a good result, I feel all my hard work in training is paying off."

Leading a glittering cast of international winners in Xiamen was Norway's three-time 400m world champion hurdler Karsten Warholm, who broke his own world best in the newly-added 300m discipline on the Diamond series, showing no signs of rust since his last official meet at the Poland leg in August.

Warholm powered around three-quarters of the track, gliding over the barriers to win by almost a second ahead of runner-up Matheus Lima in 33.05s, shaving 0.21s on the previous world best he set in Oslo in 2021.

The time in Xiamen was considered an unofficial world record as the 300m, which is not included in the Olympics, is still not yet a world record event, despite World Athletics announcing recently that the discipline would become an official world record event "in due course".

"I was a little bit surprised by how easy my legs were feeling off the last bend," said Warholm. "Of course, you feel it a little bit in the end, but I managed to really push in the last 45 meters. This shows that the speed is there and the speed over the hurdles is there."

Warholm's run was one of eight meeting records established in Xiamen.

Earlier in the night, Kenyan female distance star Faith Kipyegon narrowly missed out on the 1,000m world record after she clocked 2:29.21, falling just 0.23s short of becoming the fastest woman over a kilometer.

"It was a very good start to my season," said Kipyegon.

As arguably the most popular foreign star in Xiamen, Sweden's pole vault superstar Armand Duplantis failed to deliver his best, yet still defended his title at the meet by clearing a height of 5.92m after three jumps.

"It was not the easiest day. We had a little bit of trouble with the wind, but overall it was a great fun," said the 25-year-old, who set a world record of 6.24m (that he has since exceeded) at the same event last year.

sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn