The 2019 edition of Weltklasse Zürich at Letzigrund Stadion on Thursday night (29 August) will represent the first of two final events of this year’s IAAF Diamond League. 16 IAAF Diamond League champions will be crowned. One week later, athletes will be hunting diamond trophies in a second set of 16 events in Brussels. As announced this spring, the IAAF Diamond League series will be redesigned after this season. The number of events will be reduced from 32 to 24 (12 women’s events and 12 men’s events). And in future, 13 meetings will be members of the series, with only one of them serving as a final event. The 2020 final event will be held in Zurich on Friday, 11 September 2020. The board of the diamond league has chosen the host location based on a variety of criteria. Zurich with the highest quality standards in all areas, its innovative street events and inspiring initiatives how athletics is presented is the right meeting to act as a role model to launch the new Diamond-League-series.
New opportunities, new challenges
Weltklasse Zürich is delighted that the IAAF Diamond League has trusted the meeting with hosting the final event in 2020 and 2021, the first two years of the new format. As of the third year, the venue of the final event will change every year. While working on their final preparations for the meeting on Thursday, the Zurich promoters are already looking into the new opportunities and challenges the next two editions will hold: “Increasing the number of events from 16 to 24 involves logistical and organisational challenges,” explains Co-Meeting Director Andreas Hediger. “The number of athletes participating in the meeting will double, and a timetable for so many events will look entirely different from the ones we have developed so far.” In addition, Weltklasse Zürich has decided to stage some IAAF Diamond League events downtown: On Wednesday night the Zurich city centre will become an arena for international athletics. And the traditional pole vault event at Zurich Main Station will be held on Thursday and will become part of the official IAAF Diamond League programme of events.
Inspiring people with spectacular competitions
Co-Meeting Director Christoph Joho has exciting new plans for the future Weltklasse Zürich week: “We would like to introduce even more residents and visitors to the fascination of our sport. In addition to the legendary Letzigrund Stadium and the vibrant atmosphere at the ticket hall of Zurich Main Station, we would like to inspire people with spectacular competitions and shows.” Exact locations for these new Weltklasse Zürich stages have not been specified yet. And the events to be held in the city centre will be announced in due course. Weltklasse Zürich and city authorities are working together closely and constructively on the project.
With the venue for the final events in 2020 and 2021 determined, the new structure for the IAAF Diamond League series is taking shape. The twelve members of the series and the 24 official events are will be finalised on the occasions of a convention in September and the annual general meeting at the end of October.
