Jo-Ane du Plessis takes second; Simbine, Sekgodiso miss the podium
World indoor champion Prudence Sekgodiso faded in the women's 800m to finish sixth and Akani Simbine, the 60m bronze medallist at the indoor showpiece, had to settle for another 100m race outside the top three.
Du Plessis, who thrives in the sunshine and the heat, threw a best of 58.89 in the rain to post the second-best distance of the competition behind Serbian Adriana Vilagos, the only one to clear 60m, with a best of 63.02.
Elina Tzengko of Greece, the 2022 European champion, was third, just 7cm behind Du Plessis.
The big casualty of the competition was Olympic champion Haruka Kitaguchi, ending last.
Simbine finished outside the top three for the third time in four outings as he ended fourth in the 100m race, staged in pouring rain.
He was pushed out the top three by fast-finishing Olympic champion Noah Lyles of the US, who ended second behind Jamaican speedster Oblique Seville in 9.87sec, an impressive effort in the conditions.
Lyles and third-placed Ackeem Blake, also of Jamaica, were both given 10.02.
Simbine was fourth in 10.05, a little faster than the 10.10 he went in Poland on Saturday.
Sekgodiso exhausted her gas tank trying to keep up with Britain's Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson, fading on the home straight from second to sixth in the women's 800m.
Hodgkinson won in 1min 55.69sec, with Swiss star Audrey Werro taking second in 1:57.34 ahead of Georgia Hunter Bell, the other Briton in the field, in 1:57.55.
Then came Anais Bourgoin of France in 1:58.43 and Botswana's Oratile Nowe in 1:58.63.
Sekgodiso crossed the line in 1:58.76, but she will likely learn a lot in terms of strategy — and that can only assist her in the final build-up to the world championships in Tokyo next month.
On paper the 23-year-old ran the perfect race, tucking herself in behind Hodgkinson early on and sticking to her until the final bend.
But behind them the gap to the third-placed runner suggested they were going fast; the South African had charged into uncharted territory trying to track the English heroine's pace and she paid the price.
With a personal best of 1:57.16 — achieved twice this season — Sekgodiso is still learning to go faster.
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