The Belgacom Memorial Van Damme, the Samsung Diamond League final in Brussels, effectively brought the curtain down on the summer season and proved that Europe is still the home of global athletics on Friday.

Lithuania’s Virgilijus Alekna, Great Britain’s Jennifer Meadows and the German pair of Silke Spiegelburg and Christina Obergföll all missed out on medals at the World Championships, which ended on Sunday, but they bounced back by winning the Diamond Race in the respective events at the Samsung Diamond League final in Zurich on Thursday.

Freshly minted world champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand became the first Diamond Trophy winners of 2011 when she won the shot put competition at the Weltklasse Zurich meeting in the Swiss city on Wednesday night.