Two world records fell within 40 minutes during an extraordinary Zurich Diamond League meeting on Thursday night, as Alison dos Santos and Masai Russell rewrote the record books at the Letzigrund Stadium.
Irish interest came during the pre programme, with Sophie O’Sullivan contesting a strong women’s 1500m on her first appearance at a Diamond League meeting.
O’Sullivan Closes Out Field In Zurich
O’Sullivan finished 12th among the 12 athletes who completed the race, recording 4:12.25. Two pacemakers did not finish.
The placing does not tell the full story. Her time was only 0.53 seconds slower than the 4:11.72 she ran when finishing eighth in the European final in Birmingham just 11 days earlier.
It was another outing at the top level during a busy summer in which O’Sullivan won the Irish 1500m title in a championship record of 4:05.62 and broke two minutes for 800m for the first time with 1:59.65.
Italy’s Ludovica Cavalli won the Zurich race in 4:03.27, narrowly beating Heather MacLean of the United States, who clocked a season’s best of 4:03.57. Spain’s Marta García took third in another season’s best of 4:03.86.
Dos Santos Takes Down Warholm’s World Record
The first world record of the night arrived in the men’s 400m hurdles, where Alison dos Santos produced a staggering 45.80.
The Brazilian had already made up the stagger on Karsten Warholm by halfway and continued to pull clear over the closing barriers. His winning time cut 0.14 seconds from the 45.94 world record Warholm set at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021.
Warholm still ran a superb 46.69 in second, but he could do little as Dos Santos completed one of the finest 400m hurdles performances ever witnessed.
Russell Finally Claims Hurdles Record
Less than 40 minutes later, Masai Russell added a second world record in the women’s 100m hurdles.
The Olympic champion crossed the line in 12.09, improving the previous world record by 0.03 seconds. Former record holder Tobi Amusan finished second in a season’s best of 12.23, with European champion Nadine Visser third in 12.34.
Russell had come close to the record twice earlier this year. In Zurich, there was no untidy barrier or late mistake to deny her.
Werro Moves Closer To 800m History
The world record survived the women’s 800m, but only just.
Running in front of her home crowd, Audrey Werro won in 1:53.70. The Swiss athlete improved her own Diamond League record, meeting record, world lead and national record while moving to third on the world all time list.
Femke Broeders Bol followed in a Dutch record of 1:54.71, with Georgia Hunter Bell third in a season’s best of 1:55.03.
The men’s race was almost as quick. Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi held off Djamel Sedjati to win in a world leading 1:41.76. Sedjati crossed just seven hundredths later in 1:41.83.
Duplantis And Karalis Raise The Bar
The men’s pole vault developed into a remarkable contest between Mondo Duplantis and Emmanouil Karalis.
Karalis cleared a Greek record of 6.20m before Duplantis responded with a first time clearance at 6.25m, the best outdoor mark in the world this year. Both then attempted 6.32m, which would have been a world record, but neither managed to clear it.
Sondre Guttormsen completed an exceptionally strong competition by clearing 6.00m for third.
Alfred Wins Race Decided By Thousandths
Olympic champion Julien Alfred and world champion Melissa Jefferson both recorded 10.70 in the women’s 100m.
The photo finish placed Alfred first by five thousandths of a second, with her time also setting a Saint Lucian record. Sha’Carri Richardson finished third in 10.97.
In the men’s 200m, Kenny Bednarek ran a world leading 19.62 to finish comfortably ahead of South Africa’s Sinesipho Dambile, who clocked 19.82.
Wolfe Breaks 40 Year Meeting Record
Parker Wolfe removed one of the oldest records in the meeting’s history when he won the men’s 3000m in 7:27.43.
The American cut five seconds from the mark set by Saïd Aouita in 1986. Graham Blanks completed an American one two in 7:27.92, while seven athletes broke 7:30.
Olympic champion Cole Hocker timed his finish well to win the men’s 1500m in 3:31.71. Kenya’s Phanuel Koech was second in 3:31.84, with Jakob Ingebrigtsen finishing fifth in 3:32.16.
Elsewhere, Anna Cockrell won the women’s 400m hurdles in a world leading meeting record of 52.13, while Faith Cherotich led a Kenyan one two in the women’s 3000m steeplechase with 8:55.82.
Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage produced another major result in the men’s javelin, throwing 92.07m to come within 21 centimetres of the meeting record.
Nicola Olyslagers cleared a season’s best of 2.02m to win the women’s high jump, Miltiadis Tentoglou took the men’s long jump with 8.45m and Jordan Geist won the men’s shot put with a personal best of 22.53m.
Zurich was the final regular season stop before next week’s Diamond League Final in Brussels. After two world records and several performances that came close, the Belgian capital has a fair act to follow.
