Laura Muir crowned Diamond League champion as Christian Coleman runs seventh fastest 100m in history
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Updated 31/08/2018 at 21:50 GMT
Britain's Laura Muir capped a memorable summer after being crowned the Diamond League 1500m champion in Brussels on Friday.
Laura Muir celebrates after winning the women's 1500m
Image credit: Reuters
Fresh from her European title success in Berlin, Muir finished ahead of the American Shelby Houlihan and Dutchman Sifan Hassan in a time of 3'58"49.
Muir closed her track season on a winning note after success in this event and in the 3000m race at the World Indoor Championships in March.
The 25-year-old Scot stormed the final lap to cross the finish line 0.45 seconds ahead of Houlihan, while Hassan was 0.92 seconds further back.
Meanwhile, Christian Coleman ran the seventh fastest time in history to win the men's 100m race.
The 22-year-old American ran 9.79 to become the fastest sprinter of the season at the King Baudouin stadium, beating his compatriot and favourite Ronnie Baker to win the Diamond League trophy at the Van Damme Memorial on Friday.
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Christian Coleman now holds the seventh fastest time in 100m history
Image credit: Getty Images
Following his world record and World Indoor championship victory at 60 metres earlier in 2018, Coleman appeared the winner from the start as he flew out of the blocks.
Despite a slight headwind, Coleman set a personal record and won with ease thanks to Baker missing his start as he finished in 9.93 seconds.
Former world champion Yohan Blake finished in third a further hundredth of a second back, but the night belonged to Coleman - who will now be hotly fancied to shine at the world championships in Doha next year.
Coleman, silver medallist at last year's World Championships in London, suffered hamstring injuries for much of the outdoor season, but said he arrived in Brussels finally fit and with scores to settle.
"I feel really good. I came into the whole week with a chip on my shoulder that people had stopped talking about me. They forgot everything I did last year and at the indoors. I mean you can't blame them," he said.
"I guess I'm at the top of the leader board right now, but a lot of guys are shooting for the top spot. You've got to stay healthy, be on my A game and keep getting better," he said.
Elsewhere, Selemon Barega created history by winning the 5,000m race in 12:43.02 minutes - the fourth fastest time ever.
Barega finished ahead of his compatriots Hagos Gebrhiwet and Yomif Kejelcha, earning a junior world record, personal record, world leader record and Diamond League record in the process.
The 18-year-old recorded the fastest time in the event since Kenenisa Bekele ran to 12:40.18 in 2005.
The Ethiopian long-distance runner's success is all the more remarkable given he finished fourth in this event at the Under-20s World Cup earlier this year.
Barega's time is less than six seconds behind the world record holder Bekele while the Kenyan Daniel Komen and Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie are the only two other athletes to have run faster than him on Friday.
Colombia's Caterine Ibarguen proved the week's biggest winner, following triple jump success in Zurich by a centimetre on Thursday with long jump victory in Brussels on Friday.
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Caterine Ibarguen backed up her triple jump success with victory in the long jump
Image credit: Getty Images
Ibarguen said she left her hotel in Switzerland at 5 am to reach Brussels in time for her event, adding she planned to share some of her winnings with her family and on a holiday.
In other highlights, neutral athlete Timur Morgunov won a closely fought men's pole vault by clearing 5.93m. European champion Armand Duplantis finished a disappointing seventh with his best effort being 5.68m.
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Beatrice Chepkoech won the women's 3,000m steeplechase
Image credit: Getty Images
On the track, Kenya's Beatrice Chepkoech led from halfway through the women's 3,000m steeplechase to set a meet record 8:55.10.
In the women's 100m hurdles, there has been little to separate Olympic champion Brianna McNeal from fellow American and world record holder Kendra Harrison all season. On Friday McNeal took the title in 12.61 seconds, beating her rival by just two hundredths of a second.
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