WORLD champion Maryam Yusuf Jamal was flawless last night in her women's 1,500-metre victory at the Athletissima Super Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland. Running in front of her home fans, Maryam powered to a sub-four minute win, to give Bahrain a double victory in the prestigious meeting. Compatriot Youssef Saad Kamel was the other winner. He claimed the men's 1,500m win, ahead of another Bahraini, Belal Mansoor Ali, who finished fifth.
Maryam registered her season's best time in her event, while Kamel set his personal best.
Maryam, who is based in Lausanne, started her race well and stayed right behind pacesetters Sonja Roman of Slovakia and Olga Komyagina of Russia early on.
The pair led with a quick pace, and after both dropped out by the penultimate lap, Maryam and Shannon Rowbury of the US were already at least 20m ahead of the rest of the field.
At the bell, Rowbury was still challenging Maryam, but heading down the final bend, the Bahraini, who turns 24 later this month, began to pull away. She eventually built lead of more than 10m in front of the American, as she crossed the finish.
Maryam completed the race in three minutes 59.84 seconds, followed by Rowbury who clocked 4:01.97. Britain's Lisa Dobriskey was third in 4:05.18.
Maryam beat her old season best of 3:59.99, which she set in Paris in July.
Olympic champion Nancy Jebet Langat of Kenya, who upset Maryam at the Beijing Games final, was supposed to take part in the race, but did not start.
Following her win, Maryam made her way to the stands where she slapped high-fives with her adoring fans.
On the distaff, Kamel took the race victory in 3:32.83, powering down the home straight with a strong sprint to beat out a trio of rival Kenyans.
Daniel Kipchirchir Komen was his closest challenger in the end, finishing second in 3:33.03, while Haron Keitany was third in 3:33.62. Gideon Gahtimba finished fourth in 3:34.01, while a close fifth was Belal in 3:35.20.
Kamel shattered his old personal best of 3:34.45, which he set more than two years ago in Belgium.
Keitany had last week won the same race at the Weltklasse Zurich Golden League Meeting, also in Switzerland, ahead of Kamel who was then fourth and Belal third.
All three of Bahrain's athletes came away with some crucial points yesterday for their respective event standings on the World Athletics Tour. Athletes compete on the tour to prize money and points, which will help them qualify for the end-of-season World Athletics Final, which will take place in Stuttgart later this month.
