The 50th Bislett Games in Oslo hosted the latest round of the Diamond League and none sparkled more than Milnathort athlete Laura Muir.
Muir, boosted by her second place personal best 800 metres in Birmingham on Saturday, lined up against a world class field in the 1,500m, the event she hopes to contest at this summer’s World Championships in Beijing.
The Dundee Hawkhill athlete set out her stall over the opening 400 metres, tucked in behind the pacemaker passing through 800 in two minutes 08 seconds, a three seconds advantage over the chasing pack.
The final lap saw Muir dig deep into her reserves as Faith Kipyeygon (Kenya), Dawit Seyaum (Ethiopia) and 2013 world champion Abeba Aregawi (Sweden) closed down the gap on the Glasgow University student.
Muir, however, was not to be denied, holding her form to finish in four minutes 00.39, a season’s best and within sight of her Scottish record of 4:00.07. Kipyegon won the battle for second clocking 4:00.94.
Morpeth’s Laura Weightman placed sixth (4:04.70).
Commonwealth champion Kaliese Spencer (Jamaica) maintained her unbeaten 2015 record over 400m hurdles clocking 54.15 seconds.
European champion Eildih Child, struggling at 300 metres came through to place sixth in 55.61, well down on her 54.84 in Rome last week.
Olympic long jump champion Greg Rutherford, a winner in Birmingham with 8.35m, continued his early season impressive form with an 8.25m victory.
Cuban Javier Sotomayor, who set his high jump world record of 2.45m 22 years ago, watched China’s Zhang Guowei finish a surprise winner clearing 2.36m.
200m athlete Christophe Lemaitre (France) celebrated his 25th birthday surging over the final 40m with a winning 20.21. Richard Kilty took third with 20.54.
Steven Gardiner (Bahamas) won the 400m in 44.64 seconds while GB’s Matthew Hudson-Smith chased home in second in 45.09.
Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia) front-ran the 5,000m, finishing in 14 minutes 21.29 seconds following an attempt to break the 14:11.15 world record held by her elder sister Tirunesh in the same stadium in 2008.
The meeting concluded, as always, with the Dream Mile. Asbel Kiprop (Kenya) celebrated his fourth victory in the event, timed at three minutes 51 secs. Silas Kiplagat (Kenya) followed home in 3:51.52 while Pieter-Jan Hammes, in third, set a German record of 3:51.84.