Weltklasse Zurich delivers two world

Alison Dos Santos and Masai Russell set world records at the Zurich Diamond League meeting, known as Weltklasse. The event on August 28th also saw Emmanuel Wanyonyi win the men's 800m and Audrey Werro run a world lead in the women's 800m, according to a column by Len Johnson for Runner's Tribe.

Two world records, both achieved by defeating the previous record holder, stood as the meeting's high points. Alison Dos Santos took down Karsten Warholm in the 400 metres hurdles, lowering the Norwegian's world mark from 45.94 seconds to 45.80. Later, Masai Russell defeated Tobi Amusan in the 100 metres hurdles, improving the latter's world record from 12.14 seconds to 12.09.

Standout Track Performances

Emmanuel Wanyonyi repelled a late challenge from Djamel Sedjati to win the men's 800 metres in 1:41.76. He now possesses three of the fastest performances of all-time, a total matched only by Wilson Kipketer and surpassed solely by David Rudisha's world record of 1:40.91.

In the women's 800m, hometown athlete Audrey Werro executed a powerful final 200 metres to win in 1:53.70. She finished a full second ahead of Femke Broeders-Bol, who set a Dutch national record of 1:54.71. Werro's time is a world lead, personal best, and meeting record, placing her as the only woman to have broken 1:54 more than once. She missed the world record of 1:53.28.

Other notable track results included a world lead for Kenny Bednarek in the men's 200m and for Anna Cockrell in the women's 400m hurdles. Julien Alfred defeated Melissa Jefferson-Wooden in the women's 100m, with both athletes clocking 10.70 seconds.

Field Events and Other Results

The men's pole vault featured an attempt at a new world record height of 6.32 metres by both Mondo Duplantis and Emannouil Karalis. Neither succeeded, with Duplantis winning after clearing 6.25m and Karalis finishing with 6.20m.

Nicola Olyslagers won a high-class women's high jump competition by clearing 2.02 metres. The reigning world champion defeated Ukraine's Iryna Gerashchenko, who cleared 2.00m. Commonwealth champion Eleanor Patterson was sixth, clearing 1.96m.

In the javelin, Rumesh Pathirage won with a throw of 92.07 metres. Cam Myers set an outdoor personal best of 7:27.97 to finish third in the 3000 metres, while Kurtis Marschall was equal sixth in the pole vault, clearing 5.80m.

With the Diamond League final in Brussels and the inaugural Ultimate Championships in Budapest approaching, the column suggested matching Zurich's standard would be a challenge. The meeting lived up to its Weltklasse name through two world records and a series of world-leading marks.