Highlights men’s events: 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 rematch 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 “McMaster 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 loud. There are more people in this stadium tonight than there are people on my island.”

Pole vault: Duplantis narrowly misses 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 energey was low 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 last 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 the competition.

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).