Highlights in the women’s events: Sprint queens defend their crowns
The favourites in the post-world championship showdown prevailed in Zurich’s packed Letzigrund Stadium. In five out of six Wanda Diamond League events, the world championships managed to outshine their opponents again.
100m/200m women: Favourites winning again – and a Swiss surprise appearance in the 200m
Mujinga Kambundji no doubt received the warmest, loudest welcome from the 25 000 fans during the athletes’ presentation. And the positive energy seemed to go straight to Switzerland’s fastest woman’s legs. The 60m world indoor champion went out fast against 100m world champion Sha’Carri Richardson (USA) and Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah (JAM) and came in fourth in the end.
Clocking 11.08, the crowd favourite lost to the world’s fastest woman – who also sports the longest nails – by a mere two tenths of a second. “People are fantastic here. And I hope that their love will always be there, no matter how fast I am running”, Richardson said after the race.
Mujinga Kambundji spontaneously decided to run the 200m as well. “Yesterday, we had this idea to try and run both races, if a lane were to become available,” Kambundji explained after the successful test on her damaged foot. “I am very happy with the two races here. Zurich just rocks!”
So, the Swiss national record holder went on to place fourth again in the 200m just 50 minutes after her first appearance. Her result: a convincing 22.46 seconds. World champion Shericka Jackson (JAM) outran her opponents, just like she did in Budapest. Clocking 21.82, she missed the Wanda Diamond League record of 21.74, which Shaunae Miller-Uibo (BAH) had set at Letzigrund Stadium last year, by just a few hundredths of a second. 400m Olympic champion Miller-Uibo made her Zurich comeback (51.83) in the national programme of events after returning from a four-month baby break.
100m hurdles: A Jamaican queen and a Swiss princess
The Swiss counterpart of Jason Joseph (who achieved a new national record in the 110m h of the national programme), Ditaji Kambundji is the country’s fastest female hurdler. She, too, had qualified for the final in Budapest, where she came in seventh. At only 21 years, the European U23 champion was part of the Weltklasse Zürich international programme of events for the third time already. In her first two appearances, she had placed eighth and ninth. This time around, the Swiss hurdling princess progressed to sixth place in 12.73. “The support we get from the crowd is just so amazing, so loud,” she said Ditaji Kambundji, speaking for her all her colleagues.
World champion Danielle Williams (JAM/12.43) was the one to take the 100m h Zurich Trophy – the first win for her at Letzigrund Stadium. “I haven’t had much time to celebrate my win in Budapest yet,” she explained. For her, there is still the Wanda Diamond League Final in Eugene (USA) to run. “I definitely will after that final competition.”
Two world champions escape the field of opponents again
Winfred Mutle Yavi (BHR/9:03.19) was the fastest in the 3000m SC once again. In a close finish, the “dancing” world champion kept world record holder Beatrice Chepkoech (KEN/9:03.70) at bay in a scenario that resembled the Budapest final.
And in the triple jump, Olympic and world champion and world record holder Yulimar Rojas (VEN) prevailed again. Her results, 15.15m (twice), marked her 13th Wanda Diamond League win, and the energetic South American, too, celebrated her latest feat with a small dance.
1500m specialist Laura Muir (GBR/1:57.73) managed to outwit her 800m colleagues. The two Swiss runners in the field – European U23 champion Audrey Werro (7th/1:59.50) and Lore Hoffmann, who had placed fourth in the 2022 European championships (8th/2:00.09) – contributed much to the exciting race. Werro went out fast and was rewarded with a new national U20 record.
After four years, the 4x100m relay race returned to Letzigrund Stadium and concluded the programme of events. The Swiss team treated their home crowd to an exciting closing show just before the actual fireworks went off, missing the win by a mere eight hundredths of a second.
Natacha Kouni, Salomé Kora, Géraldine Frey, and Melissa Gutschmidt, the “Red Jets”, dashed around the track in 42.86, only to be caught by the team from the Netherlands on the last metres. Anchor Gutschmidt literally flew across the finish line – and from there directly on into the warmth of the SWISS Athletes Lounge.
Highlights in the men’s events: World champions challenged by their opponents
200m: A close call
Noah Lyles (USA) became a triple world champion last week, and thus the one to beat in the Weltklasse Zürich 200m. The 26-year-old did not give in, even though he had to fight right until the end. The sprint star, who fans also know for performing the Weltklasse Zürich song “Souvenir”, threw himself across the finish line, narrowly beating 19-year-old talent and fellow countryman Erriyon Knight. The verdict: 19.80 and 19.87. Zharnel Hughes (GBR) was the third athlete to finish the race in a sub-20 second result (19.94).
His latest win at Weltklasse Zürich further bolstered the confidence of the current king of sprint. And he was not willing to share the crown with any of his opponents just yet, as he explained after the race.
400m hurdles: Sweet revenge for Kyron McMasters
The 400m hurdles were announced to be one of the night’s highlight. Rightfully so, as it turned out: World recordholder and Olympic and triple world champion Karsten Warholm is undeniably the superstar of the event. His approach to his races is to go out fast and lead early on. Not for the first time at Letzigrund Stadium, however, his plans were thwarted. World championship silver medallist Kyron McMaster had already managed to catch up with him at the Zurich finish line twice (in 2017 and 2018). And the British Virgin Islander prevailed in 47.27 again, defeating Warholm by merely three hundredths of a second. 2022 world champion Alison dos Santos (BRA/47.62) came in third. A third defeat for Warholm on Zurich’s Conica track, who might be looking for a remedy to avoid a “MacMaster trauma”. McMaster, on the other hand, was very happy to win again. “It feels great to win after the world championships,” he said. “The crowd here is always supportive and incredibly loud. There are more people in this stadium tonight than there are people at home on my island.”
Pole vault: Duplantis rehearsing a new world record
High flyer Armand «Mondo» Duplantis entered the competition unusually early, at 5.60m. Was he feeling insecure? Probably not. He was still challenged at 5.95m by Sam Kendricks, the two-time world champion who had failed to qualify for the championships in Budapest, and he did have some failed attempts during the competition. But by the time the bar was set at 6m, the world record holder and Olympic and world champion demonstrated the reasons for his superstar status when he cleared the 6m as the only competitor and won as per usual. Kendricks placed second (5.95m), while KC Lightfoot (USA/5.85m) took third place.
Duplantis pointed out that it was not easy to win all the time. “I felt tired and had no energy after the world championships. But people are expecting me to jump high.” Nevertheless, he did manage to get into world record mood. His third attempt at 6.23m was almost successful.
110m hurdles: A great Swiss performance launch the stars of the athletics world
Swiss national record holder Jason Joseph tackled his Weltklasse Zürich race with quite a bit of anger. He had qualified for the world championship final in Budapest last week, but was left bitterly disappointed when he placed seventh. Settling the score took him 13.08 seconds and earned him a new national record.
High jump: An emotional farewell
The high jump competition offered some particularly emotional moments when Loïc Gasch made the run-ups in his athletics career. The national record and world indoor championship silver medallist left the stage visibly moved, as his opponents and the crowd cheered, and Co-Meeting Director Andreas Hediger congratulated him on his achievements after his final attempt.
Other winners of the night included Yared Nuguse (USA/1500m), Yomif Kejelcha (ETH/5000m), Mutaz Essa Barshim (QAT/high jump), Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE/long jump), and Jakub Vadlejch (CZE/javelin throw).
