Sandi Morris and Noah Lyles perform 'Souvenir' at the 2019 Weltklasse meeting in Zurich (© Organisers)
'Souvenir', a musical collaboration between Olympic pole vault silver medallist Sandi Morris, world 200m champion Noah Lyles and the Swiss pop band Baba Shrimps, was named a Xaver Silver Award winner, the top annual Swiss prize for excellence in live communication, at a ceremony in Zurich on 1 October.
Produced for the 2019 edition of Zurich's Weltklasse Diamond League meeting, the song weaves a story about keeping valuable memories like a souvenir and the ability to call them up in important moments, and features vocal performances by Morris and Lyles.
The song was released in July 2019 and generated a significant amount of media interest in the run-up to the Weltklasse meeting on 29 August, one of the last major one-day competitions prior to last year's World Championships.
A live performance before a crowd of 25,000 capped the 2019 edition of the meeting. It attracted more than 350,000 viewers on Swiss television and more than 15 million worldwide.
A statement by the jury read: "How can you make one of the world's most renowned athletics meetings better known outside your community and appeal to a younger target group?
"The song 'Souvenir' puts sport in a modern context. Two top athletes, together with a well-known Swiss band, create a catchy, authentic song and thus show that they are more than just athletes. The result is a goose bump moment, a souvenir with great media coverage."
Weltklasse organisers for World Athletics
