Zurich (AFP)

Only in the world: Norway's Karsten Warholm and American Rai Benjamin have run the highest 400m hurdles in history with for the first time two men at the same time under 47 seconds in the final of the Diamond League on Thursday in Zurich .

The duel turned for a handful of hundredths - six precisely - in favor of the Norwegian world champion, who became Thursday the 2nd all-time performer in 46sec 92.

And to say that the Qatari Abderrahman Samba, holder of the second time of all time until Thursday (in 46 sec 98), missed out on Zurich to prepare at best the Doha Worlds in a month (September 27 - 6 October)...

Kevin Young's 46 sec 78 - present in the stands on Thursday - the world's oldest men's track record, seems more than ever under threat, 27 years after the Barcelona Games.

"The best is yet to come," warned Warholm, who at the age of 23 beat the European record for the third time this year. "I pushed hard during the race, it was difficult but I have an incredible feeling of having done this time, I will now focus on Doha and do as usual: train hard", s' is projected the reigning world champion.

On the queen-size distance, the 100m, the last prodigy of the US sprint Noah Lyles (22 years old) won in the absence of the 2nd best performer of the year, Christian Coleman (9 sec 81), waiting for his hearing on 4 September by the anti-doping investigators for having missed three times in one year to his obligations of localization.

A chance for the outgoing world champion and veteran 37-year-old Justin Gatlin, disappointing 4th in 10 sec 08, Lyles will line up only 200 m at the Worlds (September 27 - October 6).

"I'm taking the challenges one after the other," said Lyles, 22, who has run 9.86 this season. "I followed my race plan, my run was very good, I feel pretty good, even though my race was not as fast as I hoped," said the American rocket that beat China's Xie Zhenye, 2nd in 10 sec 04 and Jamaican Yohan Blake, 3rd in 10 sec 07.

- Lavillenie still far -

Another dusty record that seems suspended on the evening of Thursday: that of Mike Powell to length (8.95 m in 1991 in Tokyo). The Cuban Juan Miguel Echevarria jumped to 8.65 m (vd: -0.5 m / s), the best world performance of the year, just 3 centimeters from his personal best (8.68 m).

"I feel so good, very happy and satisfied, it's a great performance, I showed great strength," Echevarria savored.

"In Doha, of course, I want to win the gold medal, like the others, anything is possible, even a record," added the Cuban, who jumped 8.92m this year but with a too favorable wind.

On the women's side, Shaunae Miller-Uibo of Bahamas hit hard with the best time in four years on 200m in 21 sec 74 (-0.4m / s). But the Olympic champion in the 400m will run only the round of the track in Doha.

On the French side, Renaud Lavillenie once again disappointed with the pole, with a jump to 5.73m, five days after his small 5.60m in Paris.

"Tonight, I still managed to put my race in place and that's clearly how I can express myself, where I'm frustrated is that it did not pay," he said. he reacted.

Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, he had to settle for a small victory (13.51) in a 110m hurdles low and marked by two false starts.

© 2019 AFP