The Netherlands&rsquo; European 1500m champion Sifan Hassan provided the outstanding performance at the first IAAF Indoor Permit meeting of 2015 when she sped to a national record and world-leading 1500m time of 4:02.57 at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe on Saturday (31).Hassan moved away from Ethiopia&rsquo;s 20-year-old world indoor silver medallist Axumawit Embaye off the final bend, although the latter was second in an indoor personal best of 4:02.92.There were five other world-leading marks in the German city.Turkey&rsquo;s Ilhan Tanui Ozbilen won the men's 1500m in 3:38.05, edging out Kenya&rsquo;s Nixon Chepseba who was second in 3:38.12.France&rsquo;s Dmitri Bascou won the 60m hurdles in 7.53, having run the same time in his heat.&ldquo;Moments after the start tonight (in the final), I made a big mistake. Had this not happened, I would have run under 7.50 tonight," said Bascou.China's Xie Wenjun was second in 7.62 and Great Britain's Lawrence Clarke was third in 7.63, equalling his personal best.Great Britain&rsquo;s Dina Asher-Smith sped to a 60m time of 7.12, like Bascou, having run as quickly in her preliminary round.The Briton's route to victory was eased by the fact that the Netherlands' European 100m and 200m champion Dafne Schippers, who had also run 7.12 in her heat, was disqualified in the final for a false start.&nbsp; &ldquo;I had not reckoned with this time tonight,&rdquo; bubbled Asher-Smith. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m quite surprised how well I ran tonight.&rdquo;&nbsp; Spain&rsquo;s Eusebio Caceres took the long jump honours with an indoor PB of 8.16m.The Spaniard was languishing down in fifth place with 7.75m before posting his winning attempt in the final round. It spoiled a potential celebration for Germany's Julian Howard, who actually hails from Karlsruhe and who had leapt an indoor best of 8.04m in the second round Russia's former European junior 3000m champion Yelena Korobkina won over 15 laps of the track in a personal best of 8:47.61, almost three seconds faster than she had ever run before under any conditions.Great Britain's Laura Muir was second in 8:49.73 with the first seven women home in indoor personal bests.<h3>Lavillenie fails at 6.01m </h3> Not participating in the orgy of world-leading marks was the evening&rsquo;s headline act, Renaud Lavillenie. The French vaulter initially looked a bit off his game, after going over 6.00m in Rouen last Saturday, and missed his opening jump at 5.73m. He then recovered on his next attempt, posting a meeting record of 5.86m on his first try for the victory.However, he was unsuccessful at what would have been a world-leading 6.01m.&ldquo;I was feeling a little tired tonight,&rdquo; said Lavillenie. "It&rsquo;s not easy to jump six metres every time out. I had great pleasure in breaking the meeting record, so I&rsquo;m not unhappy.&rdquo; Russia&rsquo;s Aleksandr Gripich finished second in an indoor best of 5.73m.USA's Funmi Jimoh won the women&rsquo;s long jump with a 6.71m leap right at the end to beat Sweden&rsquo;s Erica Jarder, who was second with 6.69m. Germany's world-leading Sosthene Moguenara finished third, also with 6.69m.&nbsp; Paul Kipsiele Koech&rsquo;s win in the men&rsquo;s 3000m never seemed in doubt as he cruised to a 7:45.41 win ahead of Germany&rsquo;s Richard Ringer, who clocked a best of 7:46.18US shot putters Christian Cantwell and Ryan Whiting, second and first in Dusseldorf on Thursday, swapped places as Cantwell won with 20.77m to Whiting&rsquo;s 20.72m.&nbsp; Susanna Kallur returned to the city of her 2008 world record in the 60m hurdles, running a competitive race over the barriers for the first time since 2010. The Swede, in the wake of her well-documented injury woes over the past few years, posted creditable 8.14 times in both her heat and final but the competition belonged to Germany&rsquo;s Cindy Roleder, who won with 8.03 in the final.&nbsp; Phil Minshull and Ed Gordon for the IAAF &nbsp;

The Netherlands’ 2014 European 1500m champion Sifan Hassan provided the outstanding performance at the first IAAF Indoor Permit meeting of 2015 when she sped to a national record and world-leading 1500m time of 4:02.57 at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe on Saturday (31).

Hassan the star on a night of six world leads in Karlsruhe

Four days of athletics action at the XVII Mediterranean Games in the Turkish city of Mersin came to an end on Saturday (29), with the best marks including Greece’s Kostadinos Baniotis &nbsp;High Jump win with personal best of 2.34m.Baniotis, second at the last Mediterranean Games four years ago in Italy but who has often struggled to produce his best outdoors after failing to make the final at the last two Olympic Games and IAAF World Championships, went over the height on his second attempt before having three failures at a Greek record height of 2.37m. Italy’s Silvano Chesani was second with 2.28m. Louis Tsatoumas added to the Greek gold medal tally in the athletics events with a Long Jump win in 8.14m, a distance he reached in the first round. He was the only man to go over eight metres. There was another good Greek win in the women’s Triple Jump when Athanasia Perra won with a third round effort of 14.48m. Slovenia’s Snezana Rodic had all five of her valid attempts over 14 metres culminating in 14.36m, which secured her the silver medal.Italy’s 2013 European indoor champion Daniele Greco won the Triple Jump with his third round effort of 17.13m.Greece’s Dimítrios Tsiámis reached 17.00m in thre third round but, ahead in the jumping order, Greco passed his final three jumps after watching his rival unable to approach his distance.Italy’s former world champion Giuseppe Gibilisco took the Pole Vault title when he was the only man over 5.70m while Greece’s Stella-Iro Ledaki was likewise the only woman over 4.50m. Croatia’s London 2012 Olympic Games Discus champion Sandra Perkovic continued her 2013 unbeaten season when her fourth round effort flew out to 66.21m, to win by more than four metres.Ozbilen shines over the shorter distanceOn the track, arguably the top performer was Turkey’s Ilham Tanui Ozbilen, who scored a middle-distance double, winning firstly the 1500m in 3:35.09 and then the 800m on Saturday in a national record of 1:44.00. There was more Turkish delight in the Javelin as Fatih Avan won with 83.84m with Egypt’s Ihab El Rahman throwing a national record of 82.45m for the silver medal.Perhaps rivalling Ozbilen for the best performance on the track, Serbia's 2012 European Athletics Championships 400m Hurdles silver medallist Emir Bekric clocked a national record of 48.83 to win his specialist event.Morocco’s Siham Hilali was a convincing winner of the women’s 1500m in 4:04.06. Hilali’s compatriot Hayat Lambarki ran 55.27 to win the 400m Hurdles, holding off her fellow Moroccan Lamia El Habz who was second in 55.51 as both women recorded personal bests. &nbsp;Italy’s Marzia Caravelli took the 100m Hurdles in 12.98. Cyprus’ two victories came in the women’s events with Eleni Artymata taking the 200m in 23.18 into a light breeze and Nektaria Panagi winning the Long Jump with 6.51m.France’s Emmanuel Biron won the 100m in 10.22, just edging out Turkey’s Ramil Guliyev, who was second in 10.23. In the 200m, Greece’s Lykourgos-Stefanos Tsakounas clocked a personal best of 20.45 to leave Guliyev having to settle for his second silver medal by the same margin as his defeat in the 100m, just 0.01.Italy’s Matteo Galvan took the 400m in a personal best of 45.59. Turkey’s Polat Arikan Kemboi won the 10000m in 28:17.26, coming home almost 40 seconds clear of his nearest rival. Algeria’s 3000m Steeplechase winner Amar Benyahia clocked 8:14.05 for a national record while his team mate Amina Betiche took the women’s title over the barriers in 9:40.71.Spain’s one and only gold medal came on Saturday courtesy of the shot putter Borja Vivas who reached 19.99m.Italy convincingly topped the athletics medal table with 12 victories, including in the last two events as they took the honours in the men’s and women’s 4x400m relays in 3:04.61 and 3:32.44 respectively. Phil Minshull for the IAAF

Greek jumpers and Turkey's Ozbilen provide the athletics highlights at the Mediterranean Games 

Four days of athletics action at the XVII Mediterranean Games in the Turkish city of Mersin came to an end on Saturday (29), with the best marks including Greece’s Kostadinos Baniotis  High Jump win with personal best of 2.34m.