American Christian Coleman gatecrashed the long-awaited showdown between Marcell Jacobs and Fred Kerley by storming to victory in the men's 100m at the Diamond League meet in Xiamen on Saturday.
Jacobs had beaten Kerley to Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021, the American claiming the world title a year later in Eugene when the Italian was injured.
That meant Jacobs had not raced against Kerley since the Olympic final.
The delay in a re-match was extended when the pair failed to make the final of the recently-completed world championships in Budapest, where Noah Lyles won the 100m.
In Xiamen, in the first series meeting on Chinese soil since pre-Covid times in 2019, Coleman clocked 9.83 seconds for the victory, the fastest time of the year so far.
Watch as Christian Coleman 🇺🇸 storms to a World Lead of 9.83s (0.4) in the men's 100m at the Xiamen Diamond League!
— Track & Field Gazette (@TrackGazette) September 2, 2023
Kishane Thompson 🇯🇲 out of lane 10 was moving! He ran a huge PB of 9.85s to finish 2nd.pic.twitter.com/muKg62x5nv
Coleman, the 2019 world champion who finished fifth in Budapest, came across the line ahead of Jamaican Kishane Thompson, who timed a personal best of 9.85sec.
Kerley rounded out the podium in 9.96, while Jacobs came in seventh, albeit in a season's best of 10.05.
Jamaica's 2011 world champion Yohan Blake finished sixth (10.04), just behind Brandon Carnes (10.01) and another American in the shape of Marvin Bracy-Williams (10.02).
Yaroslava Mahuchikh was one of four recently-crowned world champions to win in China.
The Ukrainian managed a best of 2.02m, a world lead and meet record, to win the women's high jump.
"I am really happy that I managed to break my season best of 2.01," Mahuchikh said. "I did not expect that because I felt a little bit tired.
"I did feel a little bit stressed before the World Athletics Championships, but most of the time, I just enjoy all my competition and feel relaxed."
Christian Coleman bounces back from his fifth-place finish in Budapest to tie Noah Lyles' 9.83 world lead for a 100m win at #XiamenDL
— FloTrack (@FloTrack) September 2, 2023
Credit: Xiamen Diamond League AG pic.twitter.com/MyUsckEqCk
Serbia's Ivana Vuleta (6.88m), Morocco's Soufiane El Bakkali (8:10.31) and Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic (49.36sec) made no mistake for victories in the men's 110m hurdles, women's long jump, men's 3000m steeplechase and women's 400m respectively.
Other world champs fared less well.
Canada's Marco Arop could only finish second to Kenyan Emmanuel Wanyonyi's impressive winning time of 1:43.20 in the men's 800m, a personal best that was also the fastest time of the year and a meet record.
American Grant Holloway was beaten to the line in the men's 110m hurdles by Jamaican winner Hansle Parchment, in 12.96sec, with Daniel Roberts grabbing second.
Holloway's teammate and fellow Budapest champion Laulauga Tausaga was third in the women's discus throw won by Feng Bin on home soil, while Burkina Faso's Hugues Fabrice Zango was runner-up in the men's triple jump to Italy's Andy Diaz Hernandez.