Top memorable moments in Monaco

3,000m Steeplechaser Brimin Kipruto during the training session at Moi International Sport Centre, Kasarani August 13, 2015 ahead of International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championship in Beijing, China. [Photo:DENNIS OKEYO/STANDARD]

The IAAF Diamond League heads to Monaco for the tenth meeting on Friday. And three memorable moments stand out from the Mediterranean Principality.

Olympic 3000m steeplechase champion Brimin Kipruto produced one of the great track performances of all time as he missed the seven-year-old world record by just one hundredth of a second in 2011.

A stupendous last lap of around 60 seconds was enough for the 25-year-old from Keiyo District to see off the lingering challenge of Kenya’s past and future Olympic champion, Ezekiel Kemboi and win in 7:53.64 – just shy of the 7:53.53 run at the 2004 Brussels meeting by Qatar’s Saif Saaeed Shaheen.

It was clear something special was in the offing on a windless evening in the Principality when the field was reduced to four after the first 1000m.

With four laps remaining Kenya’s Paul Koech, who had arrived top of the 2011 world lists, took up the running.

Thirty metres into the final lap, however, Koech’s challenge faded, and a sustained burst by Kipruto from 250m out put paid to the Athens 2004 gold medallist.

But Kemboi and Koech were rewarded with lifetime bests, the former moving to fourth position on the all-time list with 7:55.76 while Koech’s clocking of 7:57.32 lifted him to seventh.

“The race was so fast for everyone I didn’t even know it was a world record pace,” said Kipruto. “When I saw the clock I was just so grateful.”

Britain’s Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion Mo Farah set an astonishing European record of 3:28.81 behind winner Asbel Kiprop, who clocked 3:27.72.

Although the men’s 1500m was not a Diamond Race-counting event on this occasion, a near-capacity crowd at the Stade Louis II stadium witnessed an exceptional contest in which Farah followed the tall and upright Kenyan home to break the European record of 3:28.95 set by Spain’s Fermin Cacho in 1997.

Farah’s effort also eclipsed the British record of 3:29.67 set just along the coast in Nice in 1985 by Steve Cram – who was present to witness the race as a commentator for BBC TV.

For Farah, who had been hoping to match or narrowly better the 1500m best of 3:33.98 he had set on this track in 2009, it was an extraordinary result.

Genzebe Dibaba made history in the Stade Louis II with a women’s world 1500m record of 3:50.07