Diamond League: Dafne Schippers edges Allyson Felix in showdown

In a battle of gold medallists , world champion Dafne Schippers edged Olympic champion Allyson Felix to win a hotly anticipated 200 metres at the Van Damme Diamond League meeting on Friday.

Felix entered the home straight slightly in the lead but the Dutchwoman worked her way back into the lead and held enough of an advantage to raise one arm and finger in victory as Schippers crossed in 22.12 second, beating Felix by a tenth of a second.

"I made it by a bit. It was very close," said Schippers.

Elaine Thompson of Jamaica finished third in 22.26.

Even though Schippers won the 200 at the Beijing world championships two weeks ago, there remained a big question as to who was the fastest over the distance since Felix skipped the half lap because of a scheduling problem and won the 400 metres instead.

In an exciting race, it was Schippers who came out on top against her American opponent, further boosting her sprint credentials ahead of next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

In the men's 100, Justin Gatlin struggled into a slight headwind and barely held off Femi Ogunode of Qatar to win in 9.98 seconds.

Both sprinters finished in the same time and held an edge of 0.01 over Jimmy Vicaut of France. Michael Rodgers of the United States was fourth in 10.02.

Felt a twinge

Gatlin had planned to go for the double in the 200 metres but pulled out of the race because he felt a twinge in his left quad and didn't want to enter the off-season nursing an injury.

"I just wanted to be safe so I could use my time enjoying myself," he said.

Gatlin finished runner-up to Usain Bolt at the world championships in both sprint races and had decided to double here after the Jamaican pulled out of the meet earlier this week.

Gatlin won both events at the Van Damme in little more than an hour last year.

Colombia's Caterine Ibarguen was trailing in third place on her last triple jump attempt, and again proved her resilience by bouncing back with a last jump of 14.60 metres to sweep past Israeli Hanna Knyazheva-Minenko and Russian Yekaterina Koneva and clinch her 30th straight win.

Canada's Shawn Barber also reached the podium with a pole vault of 5.85 metres to finish second to Renaud Levillenie of France, who cleared 5.95 metres.