Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse was blown to an emphatic and remarkably swift 100m win in a wind-assisted 9.69 seconds at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm on Sunday.
De Grasse, who looks set to offer the biggest threat to Usain Bolt in the Jamaican's final major meeting at the world championships in August, flew down the Olympic Stadium track to hammer the opposition in a race which saw five men dip under 10 seconds.
Yet though the Olympic 200m silver medallist's run was by far the fastest anywhere this year, he was aided by a 4.8m per second (mps) following wind, more than twice the allowable limit, which ruled it out as a 2017 world leading performance.
"It was a shock to me when I saw the time on the board, I just wanted to run sub-10 and I didn't feel in the shape to run that fast," the 22-year-old De Grasse said.
"That's the fastest I've ever run. It's going to be a shock to the body. Tomorrow's going to hurt a little bit."
De Grasse's time equates to 9.79 with a 2 mps tailwind.
Bolt's world record set at the Berlin world championships in 2009 is 9.58 with wind of 0.9 mps.
"It gives me a lot of confidence running that fast because I didn't feel that fast," added De Grasse.
"I know when I actually start coming together and feeling good and getting ready to peak for the world championships, I know it's going to be something special."
The wind, which started to really gust as the field prepared in their blocks, was so strong that even the fifth finisher, Germany's Julian Reus, clocked 9.99 seconds.
De Grasse's effort rivalled the other performance of the day from Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot, who clocked a world leading mark of 3 minutes 30.77 seconds to win a high-quality 1500m.
The 21-year-old broke his rivals with 300 metres left, his kick leaving Bahraini Alsadik Mikhou, previously the fastest in 2017, well adrift in second (3:31.49) and an out-of-sorts Asbel Kiprop, Kenya's triple world champion, way off the pace in fourth (3:33.17).
Another 21-year-old prospect, Norway's much-touted Karsten Warholm, underlined his promise with an excellent front-running 400m hurdles triumph.
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