American world champion Johnson clocked 12.97 seconds in the 110 metres hurdles while Romanian Gabriela Szabo unleashed a devastating final kick in the women’s 3,000 to defeat Moroccan Zhor El Kamch in eight minutes 34.09 seconds.
“I knew I still have a good finish but it wasn’t that important to win. I wanted to prove something to myself”, said the Olympic 5,000 metres champion.
France’s European champion Baala won the men’s 1,500 metres in a national record of 3:30.98 while Russian Lebedeva cleared 15.12 metres in the women’s triple jump.
US champion Bernard Williams won the men’s 100 metres in 10.05 seconds ahead of Nigerian Deji Aliu and Olympic and world champion Maurice Greene, who false started.
Williams, who finished behind compatriots Greene and Tim Montgomery in the 2001 Edmonton world championships, clocked 10.05 seconds, equalling his personal best this year.
“The false start held me back a little bit at the start,” said Greene. “I was really interested in getting away quick but I didn’t think it was a false start although that was what the computer said.
“I’m just taking it easy right now but I will be ready when the time comes.”
Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas took the honours in the women’s 100, out-pacing American champion Kelli White and France’s former European champion Christine Arron.
Sturrup, winner of the first golden league meeting of the year in Oslo last Friday, clocked 11.01.
White took her revenge in the 200 metres with a winning time of 22.43 ahead of Frenchwoman Muriel Hurtis and American teenager Allyson Felix.
Three-time world champion Gail Devers won the 100 metres hurdles in 12.49, a season’s best for the 36-year-old American.
“I’m very pleased tonight even though 12.49 is definetely not going to be enough to win the gold next month”, she said.
Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, the Olympic 10,000 metres champion and world record holder who has just returned to the track after missing last year’s outdoor season because of a calf injury finished second in the 5,000 metres.
Kenyan Abraham Chebii won in 12:53.37 with Gebrselassie second in 12:54.36.
France’s Bouabdallah Tahri equalled the European record and broke the French national record in the men’s 3,000 metres steeplechase with a time of 8:06.91. He finished third behind Kenyan’s Stephen Cherono and Paul Koech.
Leading results:
MEN’S:
400 metres hurdles: 1. Felix Sanchez (Dominican Republic) 48.30 seconds; 2. Christopher Rawlinson (Britain) 48.83; 3. Llewellyn Herbert (South Africa) 49.04.
100 metres:
Race A: 1. Bernard Williams (US) 10.05 seconds; 2. Deji Aliu (Nigeria) 10.07; 3. Maurice Greene (US) 10.11.
Race B: 1. Coby Miller (US) 10.18 seconds; 2. John Capel (US) 10.19; 3. Uchenna Emedolu (Nigeria) 10.26.
5,000 metres: 1. Abraham Chebii (Kenya) 12 minutes 53.37 seconds; 2. Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) 12:54.36; 3. Benjamin Limo (Kenya) 12:54.99.
110 metres hurdles:
Race A: 1. Allen Johnson (US) 12.97 seconds; 2. Duane Ross (US) 13.21; 3. Stanislavs Olijars (Latvia) 13.26.
Race B: 1. Dudley Dorival (Haiti) 13.47 seconds; 2. Maurice Wignall (Jamaica) 13.55; 3. Falk Balzer (Germany) 13.73.
1,500 metres: 1. Mehdi Baala (France) three minutes 30.98 seconds; 2. Bernard Lagat (Kenya) 3:31.40; 3. Paul Korir (Kenya) 3:32.44.
Pole vault: 1. Derek Miles (US) 5.76 metres; 2. Tim Lobinger (Germany) 5.76; 3. Nick Hysong (US) 5.76.
WOMEN’S:
400 metres hurdles: 1. Sandra Glover (US) 54.47 seconds; 2. Ionela Tirlea (Romania) 54.55; 3. Jane Pittman (Australia) 54.55.
100 metres: 1. Chandra Sturrup (Bahamas) 11.01 seconds; 2. Kelli White (US) 11.09; 3. Christine Arron (France) 11.12.
1,500 metres: 1. Natalia Rodriguez (Spain) four minutes 03.33 seconds; 2. Yelena Zadorozhnaya (Russia) 4:03.57; 3. Hayley Tullett (Britain) 4:03.87.
3,000 metres: 1. Gabriela Szabo (Romania) eight minutes 34.09 seconds; 2. Zhor El Kamch (Morocco) 8:34.85; 3. Berhane Adere (Ethiopia) 8:36.25.
100 metres hurdles:
Race A: 1. Gail Devers (US) 12.49 seconds; 2. Brigitte Foster (Jamaica) 12.64; 3. Glory Alozie (Spain) 12.71.
Race B: 1. Natalya Shekhodanova (Russia) 12.83 seconds; 2. Irina Lenskiy (Israel) 12.90; 3. Lacena Golding-Clarke (Jamaica) 12.95.
High jump: 1. Blanka Vlasic (Croatia) 1.99 metres; 2. Hestrie Cloete (South Africa) 1.99; 3. Inha Babakova (Ukraine) 1.97.—Reuters