On a night when Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, hoping to get closer to - or even past - the women’s world 200m record of 21.34sec, had to settle for a Diamond League record of 21.48, the 22-year-old Norwegian won his battle with the clock over the final 600 metres to set a new mark of 4min 43.13sec.

Sweden’s world and Olympic men’s pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis, the centre of attention at the end of a hot and humid evening, then had three efforts at improving his world record to 6.23m, the last of them tantalisingly close.

It was a first outdoor world record for the 22-year-old Norwegian Ingebrigtsen, who set a world indoor 1500m record of 3:30.60 last year and, at this season’s Paris Diamond League meeting, ran a two miles world best of 7:54.10.

After the huge blow of a second successive defeat to a Briton in a world 1500m final Ingebrigtsen, who said at the time he had been feeling under par, has regrouped in a spectacular way, recovering in Budapest to retain his world title and then taking time out back home in Sandnes before venturing out for more mythical activity.

The pace target for the halfway mark was 2:21, but the time had drifted out at that point to 2:22.28. Ingebrigtsen, however, looked calm and comfortable, and after the last pacer moved aside with just over 600 metres remaining the redoubtable Norwegian was off on his solo mission.

The crowd roared at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels and rose to him as he drove around the final bend in his quest to erase the formidable mark of 4:44.79 set in Berlin in 1999 by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj - whose outdoor world records for the 1500m and mile of, respectively, 3:26.00 and 3:43.13 the prodigiously talented young Norwegian already covets.

“It´s always fun to break a record," Ingebrigtsen said. "This one qualifies as a world record and not as a world´s best. I know I was able to break this one, but I had some kind of virus ten days ago and I didn´t really know how I would be feeling today.

"However I felt really good and ran a good race. To be honest this record wasn´t a difficult one for me. Sure, when you have to do it alone, it´s really tough, but I got great help from the pacemakers. Actually they were able to help me more than I expected."

A rarely-run distance yielded riches for many of those in Ingebrigtsen’s wake. Reynold Cheruiyot was second in a Kenyan record of 4:48.14, with Australia’s Stewart McSweyn setting an area record of 4:48.77 in third place, and Dutch rising talent Niels Laros, 18, finishing fourth in a European record of 4:49.68.

Shericka Jackson had described herself before this race as "right there, so close, knocking on the door" of the world record of 21.34 set by the late Florence Griffith-Joyner of the United States in winning the 1988 Olympic title.

She remains on the doorway after another massively impressive performance that fell just short of her ambitions as she clocked a time 0.07sec slower than the one she produced to retain the world title last month.

Even what she had described as the "Jamaican weather" proved insufficient to get her over the threshold. But as she also reminded everyone on the eve of the racing, if she was not successful here she had "another shot" at the Diamond League final in Eugene from September 16 to 17. That is going to be a shot worth witnessing…

Duplantis, whose single outdoor defeat last season took place here, ensured there would be no repeat of that occurrence on the smooth new run-up since installed.

First-time clearances of 5.62 metres, 5.82m and 5.92m were enough to see off all but the lingering challenges of Sam Kendricks, the 2017 and 2019 world champion from the United States, and world silver medallist Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines.

Kendricks, enjoying renewed form at the tail end of a season where he once again failed to qualify for the global championship, was a thankful figure after going over 5.82m first-time, but that was his limit. Obiena was also unable to progress further, finishing third.

Having delivered the coup de grace with a first-time clearance of 6.02m, the world and Olympic champion moved the bar up to 6.10m, just two centimetres shy of the 2023 best he set in Ostrava, and flipped over without a problem.

On, inevitably, excitingly to the world record mark of 6.23m, one centimetre higher than he achieved indoors at Clermont-Ferrand on February 25. But it will have to wait.

Dutch world 400m hurdles champion Femke Bol made the kind of impact one might expect in her first appearance at a meeting she has previously attended in support of her boyfriend, Belgian pole vaulter Ben Broeders as she won in 52.11, shattering the meeting record of 53.54 run here in 1998 by Morocco’s double world champion Nezha Bidouane.

Haruka Kitaguchi, who won the women’s world javelin title last month by taking the lead with her sixth throw of 66.73m, produced a similar flourish here as her final effort went out to 67.38m, a Japanese record and 2023 world-lead - and was clearly a source of delight.

This time, however, an athlete whose emotions are always on display had already secured what would have been a winning lead with her second-round throw of 65.20m.

Ukraine’s 21-year-old women’s world champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh was a convincing winner of the women’s high jump, concluding with first-time clearances of 1.97m and 2.00m, but was unable to improve upon that despite having three shots at 2.04m.

It was a grand night for Serbia’s 18-year-old Angelina Topic, who equalled her national record of 1.97m to claim second place ahead of Australia’s 2022 world champion Eleanor Patterson, who cleared 1.94m.

Kenny Bednarek of the United States won the men’s 200m in a season’s best of 19.79 from Britain’s world 100m bronze medallist Zharnel Hughes, who clocked 19.82, Canada’s Olympic champion Andre De Grasse, with a season’s best of 19.89, and his team-mate Aaron Brown, fourth in 19.98, also a season’s best.