As an energised home contingent at Hayward Field was treated to two more gold medals courtesy of the men's and women's 4x400 metres relay teams - bringing the hosts' collection to 13 as they finished in the only position they could consider possible in the medals table - a period of track and field action drew to a close that could hardly be bettered in terms of its range and quality.

World records? There were two - and but for an extra gust of wind there would have been three. Having reduced the 100m hurdles mark from 12.20sec- set in 2016 - to 12.12 in the semi-finals, Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan ran even faster to secure gold, clocking 12.06. Sadly the following wind had risen beyond the allowable level for record purposes, 2 metres per second, to 2.5mps.

That said, Amusan - who missed an Olympic medal by one place in Tokyo last year - hardly looked cast down by this detail, and nor should she given that she had created history in an event that, historically, has always been a story of European, American or Australian success.

In athletics terms Amusan, who studied at the University of Texas, has created a new culture.

The other world record of the night was less unexpected. Now that he has emerged as the pole vault phenomenon he has always promised to be since his days of heady success in the American collegiate system - or even earlier, when he first tried "pole vaulting" at the age of three in the family’s home at Lafayette in Louisiana - Mondo Duplantis has made a habit not only of winning but of doing so with world records.

A first-time clearance of 6.00 metres was enough to enable the 22-year-old Swede to add a first world title to the Olympic and European ones he already holds. From thereon in, as is now familiar, his gaze rose to the heights and after a first-time clearance at 6.06m he added a centimetre to the mark he registered in winning the world indoor title earlier this year, sailing over 6.21m.

So there was unsurpassed excellence on show. What else? The essence of the sport.

At 21, Jakob Ingebrigtsen is already a multiple champion. At the age of 17 - yes, really - he won the 1500 metres and 5,000m titles at the Berlin European Championships. Last summer he became Olympic 1500m champion. And he had arrived in Eugene intent, as was his near contemporary Duplantis, on earning a first world gold.

The plan was to do that at 1500m, and then to move on to attempt a global version of his Berlin double. But the first part misfired as another talented young man with a vision of his own possibilities, Britain’s Jake Wightman, beat him to gold.

Ingebrigtsen is one of three Norwegian brothers who have pursued successful athletics careers - the eldest, Henrik, was European 1500m champion in 2012, and the next-eldest, Filip, earned the same title four years later as well as winning world bronze in 2017.

Jakob, the youngest, is genial and polite in his dealings with the media, but, even since he was a young teenager, there has been a reserve within him, as if he knows he needs to husband his resources to do justice and give full expression to his huge talent.

The footage of his face in the wake of his defeat by the Briton, whom he sportingly patted on the shoulder before moving away, was arresting. He seemed in quiet despair, almost in agony. What do natural champions do in such circumstances. Ingebrigtsen was about to demonstrate.

In the final session of the World Championships he took on a 5,000m field that included Uganda’s world record-holder and Olympic champion, Joshua Cheptegei, and Ethiopia’s Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega.

He ran the race on his terms from gun to tape, waiting his moment before striking for the front with 600m to go and establishing a lead he never relinquished.

The next track final was the women’s 800m, offering the prospect of the keenly-anticipated meeting of the 20-year-olds who took respective gold and silver in the race at last year’s Olympics, Athing Mu of the United States and Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson.

In Tokyo Mu had come home in a US record of 1min 55.21sec, with Hodgkinson clocking a British record of 1:55.88.

This time round it was much closer as the two prodigious young talents were separated at the finish line by half a stride having sprinted side-by-side over the final 80m, with the Briton, on the inside, appearing to edge ahead before her leggy rival gained the advantage in the final strides. Mu clocked 1:56.30, the fastest run in 2022, to Hodgkinson's 1:56.38.

"Last year at the Olympics I was very happy with a silver because I was aiming for a medal," Hodgkinson told The Guardian.

"This year all I had on my mind was the gold. But the gap’s closing and hopefully one day I’ll get there."

This is a rivalry that, God willing, can be as keenly followed as any between Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, Hicham El Guerrouj and Noureddine Morceli…

As a whole the session bore comparison with some of the finest we have witnessed. While it lacked the profound dimension involved in Cathy Freeman winning 400m gold for Australia - and its indigenous inhabitants - on "Magic Monday" at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, it was a dazzling showcase for a sport that has never fully caught on in the US, despite the enduring excellence of that country's participants.

Could the self-styled World Athletics Championships Oregon22 have got any better in terms of its product? Not really.

Could it have made more of an impact in the host country? It seems, yes.

World Athletics claimed beforehand that it expected "all 10 evening sessions to be full", but there were clear gaps in the stands every night.

If you wanted to promote a sport, you could do no better than utilising the charm and talent of someone like Noah Lyles, the American sprinter who retained his world 200m title in exhilarating fashion, setting a national record of 19.31sec before rending his team vest in twain in his glee.

Talented, sensitive and intelligent, Lyles is gold in all senses of that word.

But as the World Championships still reverberate, he has spoken regretfully to the Washington Post about what it has achieved.

"I feel the ball's been dropped a little bit, not going to lie," Lyles said.

"I feel there could have been way more advertisement on America's side.

"This is an immaculate meet.

"This is by far the best track and field meet that America has had in years.

"And I’m watching these immaculate performances, and I’m like, 'The crowd is here, yes. But gosh darn it was this not put together well.'

"All the times are happening late at night. I’m still barely seeing much presence outside of what NBC is doing."

If this chance to widen the appeal of the sport in the US turns out to have misfired, no one can blame the athletes - although shaking a nation's sporting habits is a profoundly difficult thing to achieve.