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Russian Yelena Isinbayeva roared back to the top of the women's pole vaulting charts after her disastrous Berlin World Championships campaign by setting a new world record of 5.06 metres at the Zurich Golden League meeting.

However, Jamaican treble world and Olympic champion Usain Bolt looked in trouble before pegging back compatriot Asafa Powell to win the 100 metres.

Isinbayeva, who failed with all three attempts as arch-rival Anna Rogowska of Poland claimed gold at the recently-concluded worlds, bettered her previous best mark of 5.05m set at the Beijing Olympics.

"Now I understand why there was that defeat in Berlin - to have this amazing result," said Isinbayeva. "It's like a dream, it's hard to believe."

Isinbayeva had admitted to being "over-confident" going into the world championships which finished last weekend.

The double Olympic champion was a shadow of her usual self in her bid to win a third consecutive world title as she failed at 4.75m and then twice at 4.80m to finish out of the medals.

But the 27-year-old looked in top form in Zurich, upping the ante against Rogowska and reaching the new world record in just three vaults.

Meanwhile Bolt, who set new world records in the 100 and 200m (9.58 and 19.19 seconds) in Berlin, was trailing Powell with 25 metres to go but put on the afterburners to ensure victory.

Bolt suffered the slowest start of all nine sprinters and seemed to lack his normal languid style coming out of the crucial 40m mark.

The towering Jamaican eventually clocked 9.81 seconds with Powell - who equalled a then-world record of 9.77 in Zurich three years ago - at 0.07sec.

"It was alright," Bolt said. "I would say this was a shaky race. My body was sitting at the start.

"I was a little bit tired through the race. But all things considered the time is not bad. At the end I needed to pick up my speed as my body did not respond well to the race."

Powell said his second place had given him more confidence that he could regain his winning streak of a couple of years ago.

"The race gives me a lot of assurance that I can win races," he said. "I just need to work out the last part of the race. Now I know that I can also beat Usain when everything works out fine for me."

American Darvis Patton was third in a season's best of 9.95 with compatriot Michael Rodgers also ducking under 10 seconds.

Several athletes celebrated their wins at the world championships in style.

Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele, world and Olympic champion at 5,000 and 10,000 metres, comfortably won over the shorter distance in 12 minutes 52.32.

Lashawn Merritt, also the Olympic champion, won the 400 metres in 44.21, once again pushing his rival and fellow American Jeremy Wariner into second place.

The pair came into the back straight neck and neck but Merritt powered away to notch another win.

Sanya Richards won the women's 400 in a season's best 48.94 seconds, six hundredths better than her winning time in Berlin, ahead of fellow American Allyson Felix in second place.

Blanka Vlasic of Croatia won the women's high jump with 2.01 metres, three centimetres short of her winning leap in Berlin.

Kenya's Ezekiel Kemboi won the men's 3,000 steeplechase in 8:04.44, where Olympic champion and compatriot Brimin Kipruto finished back in eighth place.

Another world champion, Ryan Brathwaite of Barbados, finished third in the 110 metres hurdles.

Jamaica's Dwight Thomas won in 13.16, ducking over the line to pip Terrence Trammell of the US by a hundredth of a second.

Reuters & / AFP