Star showdowns as road to Diamond League Final goes via Zurich

Global champions will clash at the Weltklasse Zürich – the last Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season ahead of the series final in Brussels next month.

The competition kicks off with the women’s pole vault city event at Zurich Main Station on Wednesday (26) before the main meeting at the Letzigrund Stadium on Thursday (27).

Many athletes have already secured their spots for the Diamond League Final, but others will seek precious points in Zurich in a bid to qualify. Once in Brussels there is more at stake – a win at the Diamond League Final also secures guaranteed entry for events contested at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship, making Brussels the last opportunity for athletes to book their place in Budapest automatically.

Swiss star Audrey Werro faces Femke Broeders-Bol in an 800m rematch that pits them against Georgia Hunter Bell. Werro, the Diamond League champion in 2025, has won four Diamond League races so far this season, those performances topped by her 1:53.98 in Stockholm and 1:53.80 in Paris – times that place her third on the world all-time list.

Dutch world 400m hurdles champion Broeders-Bol ran her close in Lausanne, however, and now they return to race on Werro's home soil again, this time against Great Britain’s world silver medallist Hunter Bell who contests her first Diamond League 800m of the season after 1500m wins in Rome and Paris.

Olympic and world 1500m medallist Jess Hull, Sarah Billings and 18-year-old Saida Tsehaye, who finished third behind Werro and Broeders-Bol in Lausanne, add further strength to the field.

In the men’s 1500m, USA’s Ethan Strand will look to maintain his momentum after beating world U20 record-holder Phanuel Koech, Olympic champion Cole Hocker and two-time Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, continuing his comeback, in Silesia on Sunday. They all race again in Zurich.

Rivalries renewed

Zurich is the third Diamond League meeting within a week and many other rivalries will be renewed at the Letzigrund Stadium. Brazil’s 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos beat Norway’s world record-holder Karsten Warholm for the fourth time this season in Silesia, the pair clocking two of the three fastest 400m hurdles times of the season – and two of the fastest performances of all time – and they go head-to-head again.

World champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden pipped Olympic champion Julien Alfred in the 100m in Silesia – 10.78 to 10.83 – and they will want to put on another show in Zurich where they will again face 2023 world champion Sha'Carri Richardson and world silver medallist Tina Clayton as well as world 200m silver medallist Amy Hunt.

USA’s Olympic champion Masai Russell will aim to maintain her season-long win streak in the 100m hurdles – a season that includes a 12.14 performance in Xiamen in May, a mark just 0.02 off the world record. She faces world record-holder Tobi Amusan, Alaysha Johnson, Nadine Visser and home favourite Ditaji Kambundji.

World bronze medallist Emma Zapletalová is another athlete looking to extend her hurdles dominance as she goes for a sixth Diamond League win of the year in the 400m hurdles, against Dalilah Muhammad and Anna Cockrell.

Two-time Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek, the winner in Rabat and Stockholm, goes in the 200m against Sinesipho Dambile who is aiming for a second Diamond League win of the season.

World champion Faith Cherotich will want to rebound in the 3000m steeplechase after finishing second behind Olympic champion Winfred Yavi in Lausanne. Yavi doesn’t race in Zurich but Peruth Chemutai, who won against Cherotich in Shaoxing/Keqiao and Xiamen, does return to action.

Parker Wolfe, Nico Young and Graham Blanks race the 3000m after finishing in the top four in the Lausanne 5000m. They take on Cameron Myers and Grant Fisher.

The men’s 800m is not a Diamond League event in Zurich but it still features Olympic and world champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi who won in Lausanne after breaking the world 1000m record in Monaco.

Duplantis and Karalis aim high again

After winning the pole vault in Lausanne and Silesia with respective clearances of 6.21m and 6.20m and attempting world records at both, Mondo Duplantis will look to raise the bar again in Zurich. The contest in Lausanne was historic as Emmanouil Karalis soared 6.16m and they both vault again in the non-Diamond League contest.

The women’s Diamond League city event on Wednesday features home star Angelica Moser, global gold medallists Katie Moon and Sandi Morris, and Hana Moll who cleared 4.84m to win in Lausanne.

Miltiádis Tentóglou, who soared 8.66m at the Greek Championships, leads the long jump field but faces strong competition in Bozhidar Sarâboyukov, world U20 record-holder Jorge A. Hodelín and Simon Ehammer, competing in front of a home crowd.

Sri Lanka’s world javelin leader Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage looks to add another win to his victories in Rome, Doha and Lausanne, while another world leader, Leonardo Fabbri, faces Joe Kovacs and Tom Walsh in the shot put.

The leading eight athletes on this season’s top list clash in the high jump, world record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh looking to build on her recent wins at the Silesia Diamond League and European Championships. She again goes up against Nicola Olyslagers, Eleanor Patterson, Yuliia Levchenko, Iryna Gerashchenko, Angelina Topić, Marija Vuković and Maria Żodzik.