Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele set a world record in the 10,000m at the Van Damme Memorial on Friday, breaking his mark by almost three seconds.
Running on his own for almost half the race, Bekele finished in 26 minutes, 17.53 seconds, faster than his time in Ostrava in June 2004 by 2.78 seconds.
Triple jumper Tatyana Lebedeva clinched her fifth Golden League victory and moved within one win of the US$1 million jackpot.
Also, Russian countrywoman Yelena Isinbayeva won the pole vault but failed to set a world record when she missed three attempts at 5.02 meters, one centimeter higher than her record at the world championships.
In the final race of the evening, Bekele was paced by his brother Tariku to well within world record pace by the halfway point.
Soon after, he was on his own, cheered by the 47,000-strong crowd at King Baudouin Stadium, and the drumbeats of an African band to offset the cold, which dipped to 12 degrees C.
He didn't mind. "Today everything was perfect. The weather, the pace."
Bekele won the 10,000m at the world championships but had refused to seek a double in Helsinki to safeguard his record attempt here. It paid off.
Still he wasn't entirely satisfied.
Bekele's fiancee, Alem Techale, died in January from an apparent heart attack during a routine training run with Bekele in Ethiopia. They were to be married in May.
"I am not very happy. It is not very easy," he said.
"It is not a good summer for me. But I cannot do anything about that. It is in the past."
Lebedeva took the lead on her first triple jump, and made 14.94m on her penultimate jump to keep alive her challenge for the richest prize in athletics.
World triple jump champion Trecia Smith of Jamaica, the only real challenger, was second at 14.76m.
The jackpot goes to athletes winning all six Golden League meets. After four, Lebedeva was the only athlete in contention. The final Golden League meet is on Sept. 4 in Berlin.
Olympic and world champion Justin Gatlin fought back from a slow start to win the 100m in 9.99 seconds, beating France's Ronald Pognon and Jamaica's Dwight Thomas. US veteran Maurice Greene finished last in a disappointing 10.56.
Christine Arron won her fourth of five Golden League races, winning the 100m in 10.97 and holding off Me'Lisa Barber of the US and Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas. World champion Lauryn Williams skipped the meet.
In the 400m hurdles, Lashinda Demus got back to winning ways and dealt world champion and record holder Yuliya Pechonkina-Nosova her first defeat of the outdoor season.
Sandra Glover was still first over the final hurdle but Demus' final kick made the difference and she finished in 53.61 seconds, .12 seconds ahead of her fellow American. Pechonkina-Nosova finished in 53.87.
Rachid Ramzi was another champion to fall. After his 800m-1,500m double in Helsinki, he never looked like winning against Daniel Komen Kipchirchir in the 1,500m and was lucky to hold on to second place.
Without Ramzi in the 800m, silver medalist Yuriy Borzakovskiy used his trademark finishing kick to beat Bahrain's Youssef Saad Kamel in 1:44.58.
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