Pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva of Russia and steeplechaser Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar set world records at the Van Damme Memorial on Friday.
Isinbayeva set a world record for the second time in as many weeks and improved on the mark she set to win the Olympic title by one centimeter for a record height of 4.92m. It was her fifth record in two months.
PHOTO: AP
"I want to be a legend," she said. "I like people to talk about me."
Shaheen, kept out of the Olympics because of a nationality switch from his native Kenya, set a world record in the 3,000m steeplechase of 7 minutes, 53.63 seconds, smashing the old mark of 7:55.28 set by Moroccan Brahim Boulami three years ago in Brussels.
Felix Sanchez's three-year winning streak in the 400m hurdles also ended when he was forced to abandon the race halfway through, apparently with a left thigh injury. It also threw the Dominican world and Olympic champion out of contention for the US$1 million Golden League jackpot.
South African high jumper Hestrie Cloete also lost a shot at the jackpot when she was beaten by Olympic champion Yelena Slesarenko. That leaves just Olympic 400m champion Tonique Williams-Darling of the Bahamas and triple jump gold medalist Christian Olsson of Sweden to vie for the jackpot at the last Golden League meet in Berlin next week.
Double Olympic champion Hicham El Guerrouj abandoned his world record attempt in the 3,000m before the start complaining of fatigue and illness.
Capping a night of excitement for the sellout crowd of 47,000 at the King Baudouin Stadium, Isinbayeva stole the show again, missing twice at the record height before easily clearing it on her last jump.
The crowd went delirious when she shouted "I love you," over the public address system then danced round the track to Tina Turner's "Simply the Best."
When Shaheen was far ahead with 50m remaining, he began celebrating near the top of the straight by thrusting his finger in the air.
The world champion formerly known as Stephen Cherono, knew in March he would not be allowed to compete at the Athens Olympics because of a conflict over his new citizenship.
"I was watching the Olympics on TV like every other person. It was a bad feeling," he said.
During the games, though, he increased his training to three times a day. It paid off.
The race started quickly and, boosted by a band of African drummers, Shaheen was running alone with over two laps to go. Even a slight stumble at the last water jump did not noticeably slow him.
"The drumming, I really enjoyed that," he said. Now he is looking ahead to Beijing in 2008.
Sanchez had not lost a 400m hurdles race since July 2, 2001. In between, he won two world championships, the Pan American Games in 2003 and Olympic gold.
"The jackpot would have been nice but my body just couldn't take it," he said. Instead, Bayano Kamani of Panama won.
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