Haile Gebrselassie smashed the world indoor two mile record with a devastating display at the Norwich Union Indoor Grand Prix.
The Ethiopian legend knocked an incredible five seconds off the old mark as he clocked 8mins 4.69secs in front of thousands of cheering fans in Birmingham.
"It's a fantastic crowd here - I always break world records when I am here," said Gebrselassie.
"This record is not that difficult. I am so happy today."
To put Gebrselassie's performance into perspective, the old record-holder, Halya Mekonnen, broke his old record yet still finished five seconds back.
Svetlana Feofanova also got in on the record-breaking act, setting a new indoor world record in the pole vault with 4.77m.
Jason Gardener won the battle of the Brits in the 60m with a season's best of 6.49secs.
Gardener's start took him clear of Mark Lewis-Francis, who finished in third with 6.59secs, and Darren Campbell, fourth in the same time.
"There's been a lot of talk about the sprinters, so it's very nice to run like that," said Gardener.
"Now I just have to keep it consistent, week by week, right up to the World Indoors."
Dwain Chambers, however, could finish only fifth in his heat and failed to even make the final.
Daniel Caines blazed to victory in the 400m to underline his gold medal chances at next month's World Indoor Championships.
Caines ran a season's best of 45.75secs to hold off the challenge of Jamie Baulch.
"Everything feels so right at the moment," said Caines afterwards.
Jonathan Edwards jumped 17.44m - the best in the world this year - with his first round effort to win the triple jump.
Sweden's Christian Olsson, the young pretender, was blown away by Edwards and could finish only fourth.
"I'm thrilled to bits," said Edwards. "I did a good hop and step but I didn't have that much speed for the jump - I think there is a lot more to come.
"This has shown that I can go a long way at the World Indoors."
Edwards' success was replicated by Ashia Hansen in the women's competition. Hansen won with 14.71m from Cuba's Yamile Aldama,
"I've been in good shape all winter, " said Hansen, "and this bodes very well for the Worlds."
Marlon Devonish proved that he is Britain's best 200m man at the moment with a good win over Campbell and Christian Malcolm.
Devonish ran 20.51secs, a personal best indoors, to win by a metre from Campbell with Malcolm a further two metres back.
"I ran scared down the back straight - I thought Darren would come through," said Devonish.
Colin Jackson said he felt "razor-sharp" after running 7.50secs to win the 60m hurdles.
"I've worked really hard in the last 10 days, but it will be tough at the World Indoors," said the Welshman.
Jo Fenn broke the 16-year-old British indoor 1000m record as she pushed European outdoor 800m champion Jolanda Ceplak all the way.
"I've trained really well over the last three weeks and I couldn't ask for more," said Fenn, who clocked 2mins 38.45secs.
But there was disappointment for Kelly Holmes in the 1500m. Holmes could finish only seventh, six seconds down on winner Lidia Chojecka.
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