Yet, without doubt, the best performance of the night was an American who, incredibly, will not be running in Rio.
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Star of the show for once was not Bolt but American hurdler Kendra Harrison who claimed a stunning world record to pocket $50,000.
The clock initially showed 12.58 seconds when Harrison crossed the line, far ahead of the field.
“That 12.40 got my confidence back”. “I had a couple of niggles early on and even now I’m coming off the back of a cold”.
Harrison led an American sweep of the top four places and shaved 0.01 seconds off the world standard, a record head by Bulgaria’s Yordanka Donkova since August 20, 1988.
“You never know what the future holds, but I don’t think it will be anytime soon”.
“My practices after trials were great, so going into the race, I had so much vengeance and so many emotions inside of me”. I’m happy with my execution and hopefully my coach is.
Not in Rio meanwhile will be Harrison because she came only sixth in the United States trials 100m hurdles, and only the top three qualified.
Asked if she had mixed feelings about not qualifying for the Olympics, the new world record holder said: “Yes. Yes”.
“I don’t want to see it again”. I wasn’t that impressed.
“I’m so happy to run a season’s best and it makes me confident, with Rio next”, said Ennis-Hill.
Americans LaShawn Merritt and Justin Gatlin top the 200m list this year with 19.74 and 19.75 seconds respectively.
Canada’s Brianne Theisen-Eaton, the world leader in the heptathlon this year, will know that the Briton, who last month recorded her best heptathlon score since London 2012 with 6,733 points, is likely to now be the woman to beat in Rio.
A world record and two British records lit up a dazzling Friday night of athletics.
The newly-laid track in Stratford is clearly very quick.
Once Harrison found out she broke the 28-year-old record, her opponents gave her a big hug as she broke down in awe of the surprise.
There was success for the other Brits in the field too, as Laura Weightman ran a fearless race for fourth in season’s best of 4.02.66, whilst Muir’s fellow Scots Eilish McColgan and Steph Twell were rewarded with a personal and season’s best respectively as they stepped down from 5000m.
There was also a brilliant performance from Laura Muir, who broke Kelly Holmes’ British 1,500m record with a hugely impressive display, pulling well clear of the field to come home in 3:57.49. I definitely feel in better shape than I was previous year.
“I clashed arms with someone after the final hurdle and that threw me”, she said.
Julian Forte, 10.11, ran fifth in the 100m, which was won by Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut in 10.02 ahead of Isiah Young, 10.07, and Martina, 10.10.
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Britain’s 4x100m relay runners kicked off the event in style by breaking their own British record.
