Wayde van Niekerk set a Diamond League record in a dominant men's 400 metres victory at Thursday's meeting in Lausanne.

The South African, who smashed the world record en route to winning Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro last year, continued to set new ground with a brilliant run of 43.62 seconds.

Van Niekerk's time set a new Diamond League benchmark, and left Botswana duo Baboloki Thebe and Isaac Makwala a distant second and third.

"I didn't come with a specific time in mind but I am pleased with this result," he said. "I will have one more competition before [the World Championships in] London. 

"There I want to put on a show and aim for a great time."

Two-time Olympic triple jump champion Christian Taylor was nudged into second place by Cuba's Pedro Pichardo's season-best 17.60 metres, though the American still leads the way in the points standings by a distance.

American Justin Gatlin won a tight 100m men's race in 9.96 secs, just 0.02 in front of Ben Youssef Meite, while Akani Simbine came home third.

Dafne Schippers secured her place in the women's 200m Diamond League final with a season-best time of 22.10 secs, which was enough to beat Marie-Josee Ta Lou.

Mariya Lasitskene set a new Diamond League record with a stunning 2.06 metres effort in the women's high jump, while Ivana Spanovic triumphed in the women's long jump.

Swiss Kariem Hussein delighted the home fans by winning the 400m men's hurdles, while Muktar Edris was the winner of the 5,000m.

Ashley Spencer ran a time of 53.90 secs to win the women's 400m hurdles and fellow American Sharika Nelvis record a season-best time to win the 100m hurdles.

Czech Olympic champion Sara Kolak registered a world-leading, national-record 68.43m in the women's javelin, while Ryan Crouser's 22.39m in the men's shot put was a meet record, a feat shared by Sam Kendricks and Pawel Wojciechowski in the men's pole vault, where world-record holder Renaud Lavillenie came third.