The US team struck treble gold at the world championships on yesterday while Briton Dai Greene handed next year’s Olympic hosts a massive boost with victory in the men’s 400m hurdles.
Ezekiel Kemboi also led a 1-2 in the men’s 3,000m steeplechase to further confirm Kenya’s status as the dominant nation in distance running after David Rudisha’s 800m win and medal cleansweeps in the women’s marathon and 10,000m.
Lashinda Demus (women’s 400m hurdles), Jessie Williams (men’s high jump) and Jennifer Simpson (women’s 1,500m) all produced podium-topping performances to ensure the United States remains atop the medal table with seven golds.
Simpson’s showing was perhaps the most memorable of the night, the unheralded 25-year-old outshining two-time defending champion Maryam Jamal of Bahrain and more acclaimed team-mate Morgan Uceny.
“I’m very excited,” said Simpson. “The last few metres I was thinking about what this could mean for my life and family and my little sisters starting in the army.
“I was thinking ‘let’s get that anthem played’.”
The race was a disaster for the Ethiopian-born Jamal, who was boxed in and unable to make an impression after expending too much energy in a bid to free himself.
To make matters worse for Bahrain, another import, Yusuf Kamel (formerly Kenyan Gregory Konchellah) will not be on hand to defend his 1,500m title tomorrow after failing to make it out of the semi-finals.
Welshman Greene kept his composure to beat a high-quality field in the 400m hurdles that included US duo Bershawn Jackson and Angelo Taylor, and the Dominican Republic’s Felix Sanchez.
The 25-year-old turned on the gas in the final 40 metres to secure a much-needed gold for Britain after the silver-medal showings of highly touted Mo Farah and Jessica Ennis in the men’s 10,000m and heptathlon.
Ukraine’s Olha Saladuha won the women’s triple jump, with double defending champion Yargelis Savigne of Cuba only managing sixth.
Earlier in the day, defending champion Caster Semenya safely negotiated her way into the semis of the women’s 800m while injury-hit high-jumper Blanka Vlasic also advanced.
A third defending champion meant to be on show in the morning session was Kenenisa Bekele, but the Ethiopian was a no-show in heats for the men’s 5,000m because of the groin injury that saw him limp out of Sunday’s 10,000m.