The much-hyped battle of the global champions in the women’s 200m at Zurich’s Weltklasse meeting more than lived up to expectations on Thursday (1) as Elaine Thompson set an IAAF Diamond League record of 21.85.

Some of the sport’s most exciting new sprint talents will take on four former winners of the Prefontaine Classic 100m at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Eugene on 28 May.

Marquise Goodwin soared to a personal best and world lead of 8.45m (0.8m/s) when winning the men's long jump at the Meeting Region Guadeloupe on Saturday evening (14).

Multiple US collegiate champion Marquis Dendy was expected to challenge for medals at the World Championships in Beijing last year but the US jumper exited in the qualifying rounds of both the long jump and triple jump.

Usain Bolt brought the curtain down on a spine-tingling evening of athletics by anchoring Jamaica to a fourth successive men’s 4x100m title and extended his record-breaking personal haul of IAAF World Championships gold medals to 11 on Saturday night.

Swiss local hero and 2014 European 400m hurdles champion Kariem Hussein will take on some of the best men his event has to offer and race in front of his family and friends at the Athletissima meeting in Lausanne, the ninth of this summer’s IAAF Diamond League meetings, on 9 July.

Super-quick sprinting provided most of the highlights at the Jamaica International Invitational, an IAAF World Challenge meeting, with Shaunae Miller continuing her run of good early season form with a world-leading 200m clocking of 22.14 on Saturday night (9).

Ten more global medallists have been added to the array of big names competing at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, an IAAF Indoor Permit meeting, in Boston on 7 February.

A newly-refurbished Mestsky Stadion in Ostrava welcomed record crowds on Thursday (27) at the 52nd edition of the Golden Spike, an IAAF World Challenge meeting, where world-leading performances by Tirunesh Dibaba and Valerie Adams were just some of the many highlights.

Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, the current and former World 100m record-holders, made light work of their 100m heats on the opening day of the Jamaican Championships on Thursday (20).

With the international indoor and cross country seasons completed, the focus of the athletics world is shifting to the outdoor track and field season with the world’s best athletes set to embark on another world-wide tour as the 2013 IAAF World Challenge series of one-day meetings begins in just over a week in Melbourne on Saturday 6 April.

Former 100m world record-holder Asafa Powell has been confirmed to run in the men’s 100m at the 2013 Qantas Melbourne World Challenge on Saturday April 6, the opening leg of the IAAF World Challenge series.