South Africa's Caster Semenya has made herself the early Olympic front-runner by easily winning the women's 800 metres in the Doha Diamond League meet.
Semenya decimated the field in a season-best 1 minute, 58.26 seconds on Friday, almost nine-tenths of a second better than second-place Habitam Alemu of Ethiopia, who ran 1:59.14.
It was Semenya's second good result to start the Olympic year, after winning an unprecedented hat trick of 400m, 800m, and 1,500m titles at the South African championships.
They were all the more remarkable because she's hardly featured since her 2012 Olympic silver medal. She still hasn't come close to the 1:55.56 she set in winning the 2009 worlds, when news leaked she would be subject to gender testing.
The testing led to an enforced 11-month layoff from competition, but she was cleared to run as a woman in 2010.
"I feel very good this year, I am focused on what I am doing," she said. "My preparation has gone really well, but I can't say there have been many changes in my training or my attitude."
Meanwhile, the home favourite in the men's high jump, Mutaz Essa Barshim, could only finish seventh in a competition won by American Erik Kynard.
Barshim jumped 2.26 metres, but insists he isn't worried.
"It's all part of the plan. This being an Olympic year, I'm taking things slow," Barshim said.
"Last year, I peaked early, and by July I was practically dead. I'm not going to repeat that mistake."
American Tori Bowie streaked to victory in the women's 100 metres, equalling her personal best and smashing the meeting record with a world-leading time of 10.80 seconds.
The 25-year-old, who was the world's fastest woman over 100m in 2014, edged out her Dutch rival Dafne Schippers by 0.03 seconds.
Jamaican Veronica Campbell-Brown finished third in 10.91 to ensure the leading trio all broke Allyson Felix's meeting record of 10.92 set in 2012.
"I gave the race in Doha my everything and the win was mine," said Bowie.
"This being an Olympic year, I'm eagerly looking ahead at the outdoor season."
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