The 22-year-old Norwegian thus took a significant chunk off the mark of 3:27.95 he set at last month's Oslo Diamond League meeting, finishing strongly over the final 200m after hanging back a little from the three pacers for much of the race - and giving the distinct impression that there is more still to come.

"Today I wanted a fast race and I wanted to run another sub-3:28," Ingebrigtsen said. 

"I knew if I could do that, there was a big risk of setting another PB. 

"This result was the best I could hope for today but you cannot always think about records. 

"Today I wanted one, but I will now be focusing completely on getting ready for the World Championships."

The last event of the day at the Kamila Skolimowska Memorial, making its debut as a regular part of the Diamond League calendar after last year’s successful test run,  saw Sha’Carri Richardson of the United States earn one of the most impressive wins of her career as she moved smoothly past Jamaica’s world 200m champion Shericka Jackson to win the women’s 100m in 10.76sec.

The Jamaican - whose winning time of 10.65 at last weekend's national championships tops this year’s world list and put her fifth in the all-time rankings - appeared to be heading for a 29th birthday present of another win as she moved past the early leader, home sprinter Ewa Swoboda.

But Jackson in turn was hunted down over the final 30m by the far more relaxed American, eventually finishing second in 10.78, with Swoboda, who has made her name racing over 60m, looking to have bettered 11sec for the first time with an effort of 10.94.

"It was an amazing race, I am really having fun," Richardson said. 

"The 10.76 - I love the time.

"I put a great race together. 

"This was a great competition, it was amazing, and I executed correctly.

"I love the atmosphere here. 

"I wish we could replicate this to the United States - all the energy, all the love from the audience."

The battle between Olympic and Olympic champion - Mutaz Barshim and Italy's Gianmarco Tamberi - in the men’s high jump was eventually won in spectacular fashion by the Qatari as he passed following two failures at 2.34m and then won his gamble with a first-time clearance at 2.36m.

In what was the 32-year-old's first appearance since finishing third in May in his home Diamond League meeting in Doha, this super-competitive flourish energised the Qatari on the landing mat to the point where he looked as if he were being troubled by bees.

True winner that he is, the three-times world champion had responded to the challenge laid down by the man with whom he shared the Tokyo 2020 title, Gianmarco Tamberi, after the Italian - who had arrived with a season’s best of 2.29m but cleared 2.30m and then equalled the 2023 world best of 2.34m on his second attempt.

The inspiration in the air clearly affected Germany’s Tobias Potye, who finished third on countback after also going over at 2.34m, a personal best.

"For me it is still early season, it is only my second competition," said Barshim, who is already looking in ominous form ahead of next month’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

"I am on my way back, I have been ill over the past month. 

"I think I still have a 2.40 jump in me, hopefully this year."

Japan’s Haruka Kitaguchi, world bronze medallist in the women’s javelin, was a picture of delight after moving into first place with her final effort of 67.04m, a national record and meeting record, and the farthest recorded so far this year.

It took her past the 64.50m set two rounds earlier by Australia’s Mackenzie Little.

Earlier in the afternoon, Venezuela’s world and Olympic women’s triple jump champion Yulimar Rojas went out to a meeting record of 15.18m, the best recorded this season, to add yet another victory to her record.

 Ukraine’s European champion Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk finished second on 14.70m, just three centimetres ahead of Leyanis Perez Hernandez of Cuba.

There was a first defeat over 100m this year for the world champion, Fred Kerley of the United States, as he had to settle for second in 9.98sec behind South Africa’s Akani Simbine, who won in 9.97.

Kerley, who ran the 200m at last week’s US trials and finished fourth, was followed home by Emmanuel Eseme of Cameroon, who was given the same time.

Cravont Charleston, who won the US trials 100m in Kerley’s absence, was fourth in 9.99.

World and Olympic men’s pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis had to clear 6.01m to earn victory on this occasion after a sustained effort from the 2017 and 2019 world champion Sam Kendricks of the United States, returning to the form of those times, who managed five first-time clearances all the way to 5.91m.

Another world and Olympic champion, shot putter Ryan Crouser of the United States, is similarly obliged to earn victory and did so again in this radically re-shaped Silesian Stadium in Chorzow with a best effort of 22.55m.

South Africa's men's 400m world record holder and Rio 2016 gold medallist Wayde Van Niekerk, whose career was almost ruined by a serious ACL injury sustained in a celebrity rugby match in October 2017, is beginning to seriously resemble the athlete he was before that long-lasting trauma.

Now 30, Van Niekerk moved away from a talented field in the final straight to become a clear winner in a meeting record and season’s best of 44.08sec.

"Things are moving in a positive direction," said the man who won the Rio 2016 title from the outside lane in what remains as the world record, 43.03sec. 

"I have been able to train consistently. 

"It is my fastest run in seven years and 44.0 shows that 43 seconds is possible."

Botswana’s Bayapo Ndori equalled his personal best of 44.61 in second place, with Brazil’s world 400m hurdles champion Alison Dos Santos, in his first serious appearance since a knee injury sustained early in the year which threatened at one point to end his season, was third in 44.73.

Sadly, Zambia’s Commonwealth champion Muzala Samukonga, who leads this year’s world list with a timing of 43.91 in April, faltered to a halt in the back straight.

Kenya’s Mary Moraa, who beat Britain’s world and Olympic silver medallist to the Commonwealth title in Birmingham last year, drew away from the women’s 800m field over the final 50 metres to win in a meeting record of 1min 56.85sec, the second fastest time of a season in which she remains unbeaten at this distance.

Uganda’s 2019 world champion Halimah Nakaayi did everything right technically and had the chance to move through on the inside, but could not match the closing power of the Kenyan.

She pushed to the line, however, for a national record of 1:57.78.

Nigeria’s world champion and record holder Tobi Amusan won the women’s 100m hurdles in 12.34, equalling the meeting record, with former world record holder Kendra Harrison of the United States just one hundredth of a second behind her.

Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek delighted home fans by winning the women’s 400m in a meeting record and personal best of 49.48sec from Lieke Klaver of The Netherlands, who ran a personal best of 49.81, and Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, the Olympic and world silver medallist, who clocked 50.00.

Morocco’s world and Olympic champion Soufiane El Bakkali won the men’s 3,000m steeplechase with relative ease, but without exerting himself to challenge the world record of 7min 52.11sec set by his great rival Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia in Paris last month.

El Bakkali contented himself with victory in a meeting record of 8:03.16.

Australia's Olympic silver medallist Nicola Olyslagers had to settle for another second place in the women’s high jump as she finished behind Iryna Gerashchenko of Ukraine on countback after both had cleared 1.98 metres.

Olyslagers’s compatriot Eleanor Patterson, the world champion, managed a best of 1.89m in her first competition since February due to injury.

Freweni Hailu of Ethiopia won the women’s 3,000m in a meeting record of 8:26.61.