The 27-year-old United States sprinter, who earned silver at the Tokyo 2020 Games, raised his right arm in imminent triumph 30m from the line and showboated through in 20.32sec to bring the opening World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting to a close.

Kerley's surge into the straight put paid to the home challenge of Rohan Browning, who finished second in 20.71.

Earlier at Lakeside Stadium, Ollie Hoare, one of the members of the bronze medal mixed relay team at the World Cross Country Championships in Bathurst the previous weekend, dominated the second half of the John Landy Mile to win in 3min 52.24sec.

It was the third-fastest mile by an Australian in Australia behind Stewart McSweyn’s 3:50.61 in Tasmania in 2020 and the meeting record of 3:51.54 by Simon Doyle in 1991.

New Zealand’s Samuel Tanner finished second and third place went to Cameron Myers, a 16-year-old from Canberra, who set an Oceania under-18 and under-20 record of 3:55.44 to beat the previous under-20 mark set by Mike Hillardt in Berlin in 1980.

Myers' mark also beat the world age-16 best set by Norway's current Olympic 1500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

Home athlete Michelle Jenneke won the 100m hurdles in 12.75, thus becoming the only athlete to achieve a World Championships qualifying standard at this meeting.

Along with Hoare, the other three members of Australia’s World Cross Country Championships mixed relay team also ran in Melbourne, as did both world under-20 cross-country champions.

Jessica Hull beat Abbey Caldwell in a hugely competitive women's 1500m, by 4:07.11 to 4:07.32.

McSweyn appeared to be heading for victory in the 3,000m but was passed by the newly established world under-20 cross-country champion Ishmael Kipkurui, with the Kenyan winning in a personal best and meeting record of 7:41.38 to McSweyn’s 7:44.36.

Senayet Gatachew made it a 3,000m double for world under-20 cross-country champions, winning the women's 3,000m in a personal best of 8:46.54.

In the men’s discus, staged at Geelong’s Landy Field on the eve of the meeting, New Zealand's Connor Bell threw a national record of 66.23m to defeat Australia's Commonwealth champion Matthew Denny, who threw 62.73m.

The Melbourne meeting was named after the hugely popular Maurie Plant, who died in January 2020.

The Herald Sun described him as "an agent, promoter, commentator, liaison officer, confidante, fixer, problem solver, influencer, spruiker, father figure and always the life of the party."