Laura Muir only finished seventh in the 1500m final at the Olympic Games but rather than dwell on that race, the Scotswoman powered to the fastest time by a European runner in nearly three decades with victory in the Paris Diamond League on Saturday.
Muir tracked the pacemakers closely before setting out her stall on the third lap, forging a lead of five metres at the bell ahead of the likes of Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon and former European champion Sifan Hassan.
While Muir lost three places on the last lap in the Olympic final, the Brit gauged it perfectly in the French capital last night. She produced a closing lap of 59.99 to keep the challengers at bay and smash her British record by more than two seconds with 3:55.22.
Ehhhh what just happened??!!! Ahhhhhhhh 3.55.22
— Laura Muir (@lauramuiruns) August 27, 2016
British Record No2!! https://t.co/TVy7hGzIz5
Not since Paula Ivan from Romania won the Olympic title in 1988 in 3:53.96 has a European run faster at the distance.
“The race was amazing. I couldn't believe the time, especially since I didn't do one track session since Rio. I just went with the pacemaker and I knew I had to dig in and hold on during the third lap. I'll be in Zurich next week to finish my season,” said Muir.
Kipyegon finished second in 3:56.22 while Hassan returned to form after an injury-plagued start to the summer with a season’s best of 3:57.13 in third.
Hassan’s team-mate Dafne Schippers returned to winning ways after taking a silver medal in the 200m at the Olympic Games with victory in 22.13 ahead of her sometimes training partner Desiree Henry, who lowered her lifetime best from 22.88 to 22.46 in second.
“Even if I was really tired after Rio, this race and this victory were really important for me. I had only one training this week, that's why I'm quite happy with my time tonight,” she said.
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Renaud Lavillenie suffered the rarity of back-to-back defeats and the Frenchman was looking at the prospect of a third after he watched Sam Kendricks cleared 5.81m on his first attempt.
But motivated by the prospect of competing in the Stade de France for perhaps the last time, Lavillenie cleared that height on his third attempt before sealing the win - his seventh at this meet since 2009 - with a 5.87m clearance.
He went on to clear 5.93m before three attempts at 6.00m which proved beyond his capacity last night. “The audience was amazing, they helped me to give everything. To win here was really important for me,” he said.
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Sandra Perkovic has been winning for fun this year and the 26-year-old looks poised to finish the season unbeaten after notching up her ninth win in succession in the discus.
The reigning Olympic and European champion produced the three best throws of the competition - 65.62m, 66.80m, 67.62m - to defeat veteran Melina Robert-Michon, who led after three throws with 64.36m.
Ivana Spanovic won her second Diamond League meeting in the space of 48 hours but she had a nervous wait after retiring midway through the competition. However, her second round jump of 6.90m - her only valid mark of the competition - was good enough to defeat Lorraine Ugen by 10 centimetres.
Elsewhere, Olympic champion Ruth Beitia cleared 1.98m to win the high jump while Jakub Vadlejch improved his lifetime best to 88.02m to defeat Julian Weber (87.39m) and Olympic champion Thomas Rohler (84.16m) for back-to-back Diamond League wins.