It seem like with every Diamond League meet more and more world leads are produced. The 2012 Bislett Games in Oslo was no exception as three world leads were churned out, and plenty of other phenomenal performances.

The Diamond League action started with the men’s 400m hurdles. The world leader in the event, Puerto Rican Javier Colson, lived up to his hype. Making up the stagger alarmingly fast, the 2011 and 2009 World Champion silver medalist crossed the line in 47.92, .08 seconds faster than his previous world lead. For Colson it’s the first time he’s broken 48 seconds since setting his PR in May of 2010.

In the women’s steeple Keyan Milcah Chemos improved on her own world lead after breaking an area, meet and personal record. Her time of 9:07.14 is the fastest she’s ran since 2009. Her previous world leading time was set just five days ago at the Prefontaine Classic. Runner-up in the event, Sofia Assefa of Ethiopa, set a six second PR, stopping the clock at 9:09.00.

In women’s 1500m action, Aregawi Abeba of Ethiopa ran a 4:02.42. A week earlier at the Rome Diamond League meeting she ran a 3:56.54, the current world #1. For a race that featured the top four women in the world (Abeba, Dibaba, Obiri, and Uceny), the race was relatively uneventful.

Next on the docket was the men’s 5k feature the brother’s Bekele and a hoard of their Ethiopian kinspeople. Kenenisa looked to be a nonfactor a majority of the race as Tariku mixed it up with the front pack but faded moving into the last lap. In the end it was Dejen Gebremeskel and Gebrhiwet battling to run the #5 and #6 times in the world, clocking 12:58.92 and 12:58.99, respectively.

After a false start in the women’s 100m hurdle field by Jessica Ennis, the field was narrowed down to seven competitors.  Those seven competitors, however, got worked as Australian Sally Pearson put on a clinic. Her run of  12.49 seconds is a current world lead, and Bislett Games meet record. American Kristi Castlin was runner up in the race running a personal best of 12.56 seconds. Lolo Jones, of recent internet fame, was also in the race trying return to form. Her time of 12.75 was good enough for 5th, but she has a tough road ahead of her if she wants a spot on the American Olympic team.

The ExxonMobil dream mile was the penultimate event, and it did not disappoint. Four of the top five men in the world were featured in the race but in the end it was Asbel Kiprop who prevailed. His winning time of 3:49.22 bested his 3:49.40 set just five days ago at the Prefontaine Classic. Kiprop closed his final lap in a blazing 57 seconds.

The rest of the field, however, may have been the strongest mile field seen this year. To put the race in perspective, it takes nothing more than looking at the 8th place finisher Hamza Driouch who ran 3:50.80. That’s right, 3:50.80 was only good enough for 8th place in this field

The final event of the night would feature a much anticipated dual between Jamaican friends/foes Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell. Powell was out of the blocks fast and looked like he had the win halfway through the race. Bolt, however, chased down Powell in the last third of the race and leaned to a 9.79 first place finish. Powell would go on to finish in a season’s best 9.85. Bolt’s performance yesterday, on top of his world leading 9.76 from last week should put to bed all the doubters who saw the 10.04 as a sign of his mortality in the 100m.

With so many fast times coming out of Oslo, the Bislett Games are becoming the place to go to run fast times. Year in and year out the venue has produced fast times and this year was no exception. Maybe it’s the Scandinavian air, maybe it’s just the Norwegian lifestyle, either way, the 2012 Bislett Games was one of the best meets of the year.