30/08/02 – For the second time in a row the Van Damme became the number one meeting of the year in the IAAF ranking based on the 72 best performances during the meet.
Marion Jones faced for the one and only time during that season Zhanna Pintusevich on both 100m and 200m. The Olympic champion beat the world champion, but each time with a narrow margin. In the 100m Jones emerged in 10.88 with only 2/100th difference and in the 200m the American had to produce a world leading 21.11, Pintusevich running 21.24.
The meet produced four other world leading performances, despite being organised at the end of the season. One came traditionally in the 10.000m, but there was more. For the first time in history five athletes went under 27 minutes in the same race and the first twelve ran a PB. Sammy Kipketer was the fastest, clocking 26.49.38.
The Danish Kipketer also went for a world leader in the 800m. Wilson impressed the crowd with a clear victory against a strong field in 1.42.74. Two other WLP came in the women’s races thanks to Maria Mutola with 2.30.12 on 1.000m and the Turkish Ayhan Sureyya with 3.57.75 on 1.500m.
The 1.500m men should have been another highlight with Hicham El Guerrouj going for the world record, but the Moroccan had to face rabbits who went too fast. So he secured his chances for the Jackpot by winning in 3.29.95. This meet was indeed the penultimate of the Golden League and nobody failed to stay in contention, as Marion Jones won the 100m, Ana Guevara the 400m and Felix Sanchez the 400m hurdles. But the Dominican had to struggle till the end to beat Frenchman Diagana.
In the field Walter Davis waited as usual for the last attempt in the triple jump to produce a winning 17,40m to beat European champion Christian Olsson with 7cm. In the high jump his compatriot Kajsa Bergqvist cleared 1,99m before missing 2,03m.