Host puts in a sparkling show

Zhang's unexpected rise to the top step of the podium has helped maintain China's competitiveness in the men's event, after 2022 world championships winner Wang Jianan struggled to reclaim his prime form.

"It was my first time in Xiamen, and to compete in such a high-level event. I didn't jump well initially, but, luckily, I found my rhythm on the fifth attempt," said Zhang, who finished 7th at his Olympic debut in Paris last summer.

"I didn't disappoint the fans, at the end of the day. I will just keep working hard," said the Hunan province native.

In men's triple jump, Chinese veteran Zhu Yaming came up short of delivering another elite-level result, following his 17.33m silver-winning leap at the Nanjing indoor worlds last month, as he produced a subpar performance by his standards, recording 17.03m to finish second after Jamaican winner Jordan Scott's PB of 17.27m.

Zhu, a silver medalist at Tokyo 2020, wasn't upset, though.

"It was a result that was just OK, just passed the lowest requirement of myself," said the 31-year-old, who's registered results of 17.30mplus nine times, with his 17.57m podium finish in Tokyo still his PB.

"I feel I had a solid preparation from Nanjing to Xiamen, yet the result here showed we didn't do as well as we thought in training, meaning I still have room to improve."

On an electrifying night, cheered on by a passionate home crowd, the host squad also collected three bronze medals.

In men's 110m hurdles, Liu Junxi delivered a PB of 13.24 seconds to grab one of them, women's shot put veteran Gong Lijiao's 19.62m effort delivered her a podium finish, and a 61.62m throw in women's javelin by youngster Su Lingdan saw her pocket her first career Diamond League medal.

Off the podium, without a medal, China's teen prodigy Chen Yujie still made her presence felt on her Diamond League debut, as the 16-year-old sprinted to fourth place in women's 200m with a PB and new Asian youth record of 22.99s.

She missed out on the podium by a mere 0.02s in a race featuring a star-studded field that included Jamaica's two-time 200m world champion Shericka Jackson and two-time Olympic medalist Jenna Prandini of the United States.

"Oh my gosh, I was so excited," said an emotional Chen, who came out flying in the far left first lane in the final to wow the Xiamen crowd.