If Haile Gebrselassie had anything left to prove before Sydney, he proved it last night. Victory in a fierce 5,000 metres, which from every angle was a test run of the Olympic final, concluded the most electric Zurich Grand Prix meeting of recent years. The call it Weltklasse - world class - and no one came away arguing with that.
Mark Carroll was forced off the oppressive pace in the early stages and eventually finished 12th, his time of 13 minutes 12.16 seconds someway behind the Ethiopian's winning time of 12:57.95.
But with the presence of everyone who has hopes of marking a mark in Sydney, it was still a useful experience for the Irishman, who certainly paced himself quite sensibly and was the first European home.
Indeed, no meetings this summer will create more pointers as to potential medallists in Sydney. They do, after all, call it the one-day Olympics. For Maurice Greene, there was a 100-metre favourite tag that he had to regain after the disastrous conclusion in the American Trials last month.
And last night's victory in 9.94 seconds went a long way in doing that. The powerful American once more controlled the sprint from start to finish, showing no signs of the hamstring strain that saw him limp home and miss out on an Olympic 200 metre place the last time he raced.
The time was just outside Carl Lewis' stadium record of 9.93 seconds and a similar distance off Greene's own world leader of 9.91 seconds but there were a host of big shots in his shadow.
Ato Boldon suffered the pressure of a false start and didn't get close to his ideal start, eventually finishing third in 10 flat. Just ahead of the Trinidad man was Obadele Thompson, still improving all the time and getting close to a Barbados record with his time of 9.97 seconds.
"My doctor told me I was ready to run and I was ready to run," said Greene. "I'm maybe short of a few races now, but now it's time to go a lot faster. It's still nothing but gold for me."
The so-far invincible Marion Jones was given a brief reminder that it may not yet be a one-woman sprint in Sydney. The American was pushed all the way in the 100 metres by her American team-mate Inger Miller before sneaking the win in a slightly more casual 10.95 seconds than some of her more recent outings. Miller was clocked at 10.96.
More significant perhaps was the third place of Jamaican veteran Merlene Ottey. Now 40, the timing of her comeback for Sydney appears to be perfect and her 11.06 was her fastest of the season.
Later on, Jones came back to complete a double by winning the long jump with 6.93 metres - keeping her five gold medal search in Sydney on track. "Technically, my 100 metres was horrible but that long jump was definitely satisfying," said Jones. "I'm very excited to come away with the double, and that long jump win was very important because that's more or less the field I'm going to be facing in Sydney."
No such close encounters for the invincible Moroccan Hicham El Guerrouj, who churned out another lightening 1,500 metres like it was a Sunday afternoon stroll. Once he pressed the accelerator with a lap to go, the opposition quickly wilted, and while El Guerrouj breezed the tape in 3:27.21 - the fastest in the world this year - the only question was who would take second. Not surprisingly, Kenya's Noah Ngeny won the battle, edging out his fellow countryman Bernard Lagat (both setting season's bests of 3:28.12 and 3:28.51). The seasoned Spaniard Andres Diaz took fourth.
No athlete, however, received greater applause than Switzerland's own Andre Bucher in the 800 metres. With a victory in 1:43.72 that puts him among the major contenders for Olympic gold, Bucher left a horde of Africans in his wake, including Kenya's prodigy Japheth Kimutai and the much-feared Algerian Said-Guerni Djabir.
The women's 1,500 metres went to Poland's Lidia Chojecka in 4:00.36, with Ireland's Sinead Delahunty finding the worldclass pace a little too much to handle on the night, trailing in 14th place in 4:08.98.
