But it was the women's racing, rather than the men's, that caught the attention as 21-year-old home sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson, with hair of brightest blue, confirmed her status as an early phenomenon of the Olympic season by clocking 10.74sec in the heats.

With a 1.1 metres-per-second wind at her back, she then won the final in 10.77 into a 1.2mps headwind.

According to the statistician's reckoning that would have been worth 10.69 in still conditions - faster than the 10.72 she clocked earlier this season to go sixth on the all-time list. If you want to push it, it would have been 10.58 with the maximum allowable tailwind of 2mps for record purposes.

This is getting close to the time run in the men's event at this World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting by National Football League wide receiver DK - short for DeKaylin - Metcalf.

In his first track and field event since he was at high school, he recorded 10.37 in finishing ninth and last in the second heat.

The Seattle Seahawks star, whose high speed 100m-plus dash last season to snuff out a potential breakaway score by Arizona Cardinals defensive back Budda Baker raised the familiar question of how he would do against the specialist sprinters of this world, was running into a personal headwind of scepticism from the track and field establishment.

Michael Johnson, a four-time Olympic champion over the 200m and 400m distances, tweeted before the event: "With [Metcalf] competing this weekend at @usatf meet, sprinters rightly feel disrespected.

"People don't understand their talent.

"But that's not DK's fault or the media's fault.

"The sport has done little to show the immense skill and talent it takes to run 100m in under 10 seconds."

Ato Boldon, Trinidad and Tobago's four-times Olympic sprint medallist and the 1997 world 200m champion, concurred with Johnson's view that Metcalf was due for a sharp lesson. 

However, the current coach and broadcaster gave him "immense credit" for putting himself on the line, telling letsrun.com: "There is a disconnect in America as to what world-class speed is. When you get to 10.0, then call me."

That call from Metcalf will have to wait - probably indefinitely.

The man from Oxford, Mississippi was only the third slowest in the overall field. But his clocking was a world away from the winning time of 9.96 posted by home sprinter Cravon Gillespie. This time has itself been beaten three times already this season, with the fastest of those times, 9.86 by 400m specialist Michael Norman, well outside the all-time top 10 and another world away from Usain Bolt's 2009 world record of 9.58.

As things turned out, the result was predictable. Perhaps even a little better than some in the sport expected.

As a sprinter Metcalf is a respectable talent, but in the overall scheme of things he is not at the races.

Afterwards, he informed NBC he would shortly be heading for a Seahawks training camp rather than making another attempt to better the mark of 10.05 that would be needed to qualify for the US Olympic trials from June 18 to 27.

So you may wonder why so much was made of Metcalf's incursion into a new sporting world. But that is the point. People find such crossovers irresistible.

This phenomenon does not have to be restricted to sport. I for instance can never see the name of Belgium's Kim Gavaert, the European 100 and 200m champion in 2006 and an Olympic sprint relay gold medallist in 2008, without recalling that she is also an accomplished, trained classical pianist.

As it happens I had the opportunity of asking her about this recently while researching a piece ahead of the European Athletics Indoor Championships in March. With four kids to look after she rarely has time to practice, never mind getting into her togs.

If you ever read this Kim, and should you return to the concert hall in future, please remember the guidelines: "Regarding piano recital dress code for female performers, a formal blouse or button-down are safe choices while plunging necklines, low cutbacks, and spaghetti straps are unsuitable."

Years ago I interviewed Simon Agdestein, who combined being a centre forward for the Norwegian international football team with a career as a chess grandmaster.

No-one else in the world, then or now, knows what it is like to face Italy's Franco Baresi, one of the world's great defenders, against whom Agdestein made his debut in 1988, and Anatoly Karpov, the former chess world champion, against whom he drew 2-2 in a challenge match in 1991.

One of the few common factors he identified in his disparate activities was the moulding of the will. "You learn both to prepare yourself carefully, to be not too much nervous and never to give up," he said.

Sport, however, is the more usual medium for the crossover stories we love.

Indeed, more than half a century before Agdestein's dual roles his grandfather, Reidar Jorgensen, received Norway's coveted Aegebergs award for excelling in two sports - in his case, running and skiing.

And so we have celebrated men and women with the ability to excel in different sports.

Jim Thorpe, the winner of the pentathlon and decathlon golds at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, was also a professional baseball and basketball player. 

This fact that did not go unnoticed by International Olympic Committee President Avery Brundage, who thoughtfully stripped Thorpe of his Olympic titles upon learning he had previously received a tiny amount of money for playing semi-professionally in a baseball league.

Babe Didrikson was an Olympic hurdles and javelin champion who went on to win 10 Ladies Professional Golf Association titles as well as being an accomplished baseball player.

Lottie Dod was a five-times Wimbledon tennis champion who went on to win the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship and played twice for the England women's hockey team.

Irish world champion boxer Katie Taylor has also represented her country at football.

New Zealander Sonny Bill Williams played rugby league before he switched to rugby union, where he was in the All Blacks team that won the Rugby World Cup in 2011 and 2015. 

He was also New Zealand's heavyweight boxing champion and the World Boxing Association International Heavyweight champion.

Williams' compatriot Hamish Bond, who won two Olympic rowing golds as part of the invincible men's pair with Eric Murray, made a successful transition to road cycling in 2016, winning Commonwealth bronze in the time trial at the 2018 Gold Coast Games.

Back in the mid 1960s, West Ham's goalkeeper Jim Standen, who appeared in their victories in the 1964 FA Cup final and 1965 European Cup Winners' Cup final, was a first-class cricketer for Worcestershire, with whom he won the County Championship.

That football/cricket template was established earlier by Dennis Compton, who played football for Arsenal and also played 78 Test matches for England.

But the NFL/athletics link has always been a strong and celebrated version of its kind down the years. The overwhelming tide has been a move to American football after the establishment of a track and field career.

Bob Hayes became the first man to win an Olympic gold medal - he was 100m champion at the 1964 Tokyo Games - and a Super Bowl winner's ring after he triumphed with Dallas Cowboys in 1972.

Jim Hines, who succeeded Hayes as Olympic 100m champion at the 1968 Mexico City Games in the first electronically recorded time under 10 seconds - 9.95 - went on to become a very fast but not especially skilled footballer with Miami Dolphins, picking up the nickname of "Oops".

Sam Graddy, who took silver behind Carl Lewis in the 100m at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, as well as earning relay gold, went on to have an accomplished NFL career with Denver Broncos and then Los Angeles Raiders.

Darrell Green almost bucked the trend as he was an equally adept athlete and footballer at Texas A&I University, being named most valuable player in the Lone Star Conference in 1982. 

He also clocked 10.08 for the 100m and finished sixth in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Championships before establishing himself as a major talent for the Washington Redskins.

So Metcalf was definitely fighting against the tide not only of scepticism, but history.

After his run he told USATF.TV: "I'm just happy to be here, excited to have the opportunity.

"I just thank God for the opportunity to just come out here and run against world-class athletes like this, these are world-class athletes, they do this for a living and it's very different from football speed, from what I just realised."

He may not have scorched the Mt. Sac track, but it was a classy performance from Metcalf, both on it and off it…