Barshim, however, was in the class of his own as the Qatari athlete cleared 2.35m as the rest faltered. Barshim then went for the meet record. While he failed in his first two attempts he managed to clear 2.38m to set the meet record. Bondarenko came second after clearing 2.29m, while World champion Derek Drouin cleared 2.25 metres to finish third.
“The target was to clear 2.38m, which I achieved today. So mission completed,” said Barshim. “At the beginning I was feeling little bit sleepy, but after I cleared 2.33m I woke up and came into the right rhythm. My coach is happy especially because I broke the record. Our plan works, we go step by step. I am blessed for every opportunity I can get,” he added.
Meanwhile, Canada’s triple Olympic medallist André De Grasse took victory in the 100m as Norwegian 16-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen again broke the four-minute barrier for the mile.
De Grasse, 22, sprinted home in 10.01sec ahead of Britain’s Chinjidu Ujah (10.02sec), who won in Rome last week, and Ben Youssef Meité of the Ivory Coast (10.03). Ingebrigtsen won the mile race in 3min 56.29sec, improving his recent best of 3:58.07 which had allowed him to become the youngest man to go below four minutes for the mile.
Ingebrigtsen, who will only turn 17 on September 19, said he has the capacity to go faster. “I could have run faster today but it doesn’t matter because it was a crazy experience,” said the Norwegian star. .
Caster Semenya enjoyed another dominating 800m win as she overtook Francine Nyonsaba in the home straight to clock 1:57.59. In a race that saw the top five break two minutes, Lynsey Sharp of Britain was eighth in 2:00.41.
In the men’s 400m Baboloki Thebe of Bostwana ran 44.95 to beat Matthew Hudson-Smith although the Briton ran a UK 2017 leading mark of 45.16. Pamela Dutkiewicz of Germany took the 100m hurdles in 12.73, while Britain’s Tiffany Porter was fifth in 12.93. Yarisley Silva of Cuba won the pole vault with a best of 4.81m. Tianna Bartoletta overtook long-time leader Darya Klishina to win the long jump with 6.79m. The event featured a trio of Brits with Shara Proctor the leading performer in fourth with 6.53m followed by Lorraine Ugen in sixth with 6.50m and Jazmin Sawyers 10th with 6.20m.
Jake Wightman scored a dream metric mile victory at the Bislett Games. With the classic imperial distance restricted to under-20 runners this year, the 22-year-old Briton produced an inspired performance over 1500m to win in a PB of 3:34.17.
Wightman beat Elijah Manangoi, the 2015 world silver medallist from Kenya, into second.