Dafne Schippers has swept away any doubts she will gun for gold at the Rio Olympics after claiming victory in track and field's prestigious Van Damme Diamond League event in Brussels.
The Dutchwoman won a stirring 200m to highlight the meet, one finger held in the air as she crossed the finish line ahead of Olympic champion Allyson Felix on Friday evening.
"It makes me especially happy to beat someone like her," Schippers said. "There are few better. I feel delighted."
Even though Schippers won the 200 at Beijing's world championships two weeks ago, there remained a big question as to who was fastest over the distance since Felix skipped the half lap because of a scheduling problem and won the 400 metres instead.
The duel in front of 40,000 fans at the King Baudouin Stadium delivered right away. Felix had the better start and turned into the finishing straight slightly ahead.
Then the former heptathlete turned on the turbo to seep past the American veteran.
Felix was the last big sprinter she still had to beat. "That feels extra great," Schippers said.
The times on a chilly night were disappointing, with Schippers crossing in 22.12 seconds, beating Felix by a tenth of a second. Elaine Thompson of Jamaica, silver medallist in Beijing, finished third in 22.26.
It didn't matter to Schippers.
"Nobody is at their best at this stage in the season," she said. "It is a head-to-head duel and it is really important."
Now all eyes are turned toward next August in Brazil. With 100 silver to go with her 200 gold, Schippers adds a defining European touch to a sprinting mix too often the sole preserve of American and Caribbean athletes.
Justin Gatlin was also thinking of Rio when he pulled out of the 200 after winning the 100 early in the evening.
Gatlin struggled into a slight headwind and barely held off Femi Ogunode of Qatar to win in 9.98 seconds.
Both sprinters finished in the same time and held an edge of 0.01 over Jimmy Vicaut of France.
Gatlin said felt a twinge in his left quad and didn't want to enter the off-season nursing an injury.
Ogunode won the 200 in 19.97 seconds.
The best competition of the event came in the triple jump, where Colombia's Caterine Ibarguen again put the longest winning streak in athletics - three years - on the line.
She was still in third on her last attempt and again proved her resilience by bouncing back with a last leap of 14.60 metres to sweep past Israeli Hanna Knyazheva-Minenko and Russian Yekaterina Koneva and clinch her 30th straight win.
The evening also had two African records, with Faith Kipyegon of Kenya winning the women's mile in 4 minutes, 16.71 seconds and Habiba Ghribi of Tunisia becoming the fastest non-Russian 3000 steeple chaser in a time of 9:05.36.
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