World record-breaker Russell and home star Werro unleashed

100 m hurdles: Russell outpaces world record-holder Amusan

What a moment. What an evening. What a performance! Less than 40 minutes after Alison dos Santos’ stunning world record over 400 m hurdles, Masai Russell (USA) delivered another historic performance on her first appearance on Zurich’s CONICA “piste magique”. Unbeaten since finishing fourth at the World Championships in Tokyo, the Olympic champion left no doubt as to who is the fastest female hurdler in the world. Today. This season. Ever.

Running in still conditions, Russell clocked 12.09 to smash not only Tobi Amusan’s (NGR) meeting record of 12.29, but also her four-year-old world record of 12.12. Russell had come within two hundredths of the mark at the Wanda Diamond League Meeting in Xiamen (CHN) at the end of May. In the process, the hurdles queen also claimed her 12th consecutive victory in her signature event.

“When I saw 12.09, I just knew I had done it. I had dreamed about this moment for so long – and then to experience that atmosphere in the stadium… There is no better place I could have imagined breaking the world record,” the new world record-holder said after her fairytale run.

The dethroned record-holder Amusan had to settle for second despite running a season’s best of 12.23. European champion Nadine Visser (NED) took third in 12.34. World champion and crowd favourite Ditaji Kambundji (STB) – runner-up last year in what was then a national record of 12.40 – won the Swiss head-to-head with world-class heptathlete Annik Kälin (AJ TV Landquart/12.87), finishing in 12.82.

800 m: Werro closes in on the oldest world record

A year ago, Audrey Werro’s (CA Belfaux) international breakthrough came at Letzigrund, when she was crowned the first Swiss female Wanda Diamond League champion in a former national record of 1:55.98. Since then, the world indoor silver medallist and European champion has remained unbeaten outdoors. More than that: she has broken five meeting records and produced two sensational times of 1:53.92 in Stockholm and 1:53.80 in Paris. No woman has ever completed two laps of the track faster in this millennium than the 22-year-old front-runner from the canton of Fribourg.

In Zurich, however, Werro had to adapt her tactics. After the opening bend, it was not her chasing pacemaker Myrte van der Schoot, but her fellow Dutchwoman Femke Bol (NED). Last year’s Weltklasse Zürich winner and 400 m hurdles meeting record-holder showed that she has well and truly made the transition to the two-lap event. She led through 600 m before Werro, carried by a sea of Swiss flags in the Vaudoise Versicheurngen Fan Corner, swept past the world hurdles champion with her long stride and moved to within 42 hundredths of the oldest world record in athletics. 1:53.70. World lead, Diamond League record, meeting record, national record and European U23 record. “It was crazy. I’m very proud that I can run these sub-1:54 times – it’s a great platform for the future,” Werro said as she thanked the best crowd in the world.

But Broeders-Bol could also be proud of the way she ran the race. The 800 m newcomer improved her Dutch record, set just six days earlier at Athletissima Lausanne in 1:54.71, and broke the 1:55 barrier for the first time. Swiss fellow European Championship finalists Veronica Vancardo (CA Fribourg/1:58.49) and Valentina Rosamilia (BTV Aarau/1:59.46) gave everything they had in the fastest 800 m race in 43 years. Like Werro, they had already experienced the atmosphere of Letzigrund as teenagers in the MILLE GRUYÈRE chase race – and now, for the first time, got to race on the biggest stage of them all: Weltklasse Zürich.

400 m hurdles: Cockrell ends Zapletalová’s winning streak

What Femke Bol was to the 400 m hurdles in recent years, Emma Zapletalová has been to this season’s Diamond League: the undisputed queen of the long hurdles. Coached by Swiss mastermind Laurent Meuwly, she had won at five stops on the world’s premier athletics series this season, following in the footsteps of the 30-time Dutch meeting winner.

After finishing second last year, everything was set for Zapletalová to complete her triumph at the Letzigrund oval. Until the ninth hurdle. The Slovakian stumbled and only just avoided a fall. Anna Cockrell (USA), meanwhile, maintained her momentum and powered clear. More than that: in 52.13, the Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist broke the meeting record of none other than ... Femke Bol (52.18). She also took the world lead away from Zapletalová (52.30), who finished sixth. Former world record-holder Dalilah Muhammad (USA) followed in second in 53.16.

The 3000 m steeplechase went to world champion and Diamond League champion Faith Cherotich (KEN/8:55.82), just as it did in 2025.

100 m: Alfred ends Jefferson-Wooden’s winning streak

Making her first appearance in the starting blocks at Weltklasse Zürich, world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden was looking to extend her remarkable streak. Since 3 August 2024, when she won Olympic bronze in Paris behind Julien Alfred (LCA) and training partner Sha’Carri Richardson (USA), the three-time world champion had not lost a 100 m race.

In a repeat of the 2024 Olympic final, however, defending champion Alfred came out on top. Clocking a Saint Lucian national record of 10.70 into a headwind of 0.7 m/s, she edged Jefferson-Wooden (10.70) by just five thousandths of a second in a photo finish, with Richardson (10.97) taking third.

Four-time European champion Amy Hunt (GBR/11.04) finished fifth and was unable to break into the clash between the sprint queens. Swiss champion and new Zeekr ambassador Géraldine Di Tizio-Frey (LK Zug/11.21) remains top of the European season rankings.

High jump: Olyslagers closes the gap in head-to-head battle

It was 12–29 in the head-to-head battle between the reigning outdoor and indoor world champions Nicola Olyslagers (AUS) and Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR) before they met at Weltklasse Zürich. In recent years, the two high-flying stars have regularly traded the top step of the podium: at Paris 2024 (Olympics) and Toruń 2026 (World Indoor Championships), Mahuchikh took gold ahead of Olyslagers. Olyslagers, in turn, came out on top at the 2025 Wanda Diamond League Final in Zurich and at the World Championships in Tokyo.

The towering world champion from Down Under showed that she can outjump the Olympic champion not only at Sechseläutenplatz, but also in front of the standing section at Letzigrund. Clapped into rhythm by the crowd, Olyslagers cleared 2.02 m as the only athlete in the field. World record-holder Mahuchikh, meanwhile, failed at 2.02 m and finished fourth on 1.96 m.

In a sense, her compatriot Iryna Gerashchenko (UKR) stepped into the breach. The Olympic bronze medallist and mother of a 14-month-old daughter cleared 2.00 m – her highest clearance in three years.

200 m: Hoenke sets magical evening in motion with Swiss victory in the pre-programme

The first Swiss roar of the evening in the women’s events came in the pre-programme, as Fabienne Hoenke (LV Fricktal) stormed to victory over 200 m. The European Championship fourth-place finisher and silver medallist with the Swiss 4x100 m relay team blasted out of the blocks in front of the UBS Family Corner. Still within striking distance of the leader coming out of the bend, Hoenke found another gear on the home straight and simply took flight.

In 22.53 seconds – the third-fastest time of her career – the U23 record-holder celebrated her second victory at Letzigrund, having already been crowned Swiss champion at the same venue at the end of July. First to congratulate her was sprint role model Mujinga Kambundji (STB), who received a warm welcome from the home crowd after a year away following the birth of her son and drew plenty of motivation on her journey back to her best.

These are the Weltklasse Zürich winners 2026

100 m: Julien Alfred (LCA) 10.70 (NR)

200 m (pre-programme): Fabienne Hoenke (LV Fricktal) 22.53

800 m: Audrey Werro (SUI) 1:53.70 (DLR/MR/NR/WL)

1500 m (pre-programme): Ludovica Cavalli (ITA) 4:03.27

100 m hurdles: Masai Russell (USA) 12.09 (WR/WL)

400 m hurdles: Anna Cockrell (USA) 52.13 (MR/WL)

3000 m steeplechase: Faith Cherotich (KEN) 8:55.82

High jump: Nicola Olyslagers (AUS) 2.02 m

Pole vault (Zurich Main Station): Hana Moll (USA) 4.90 m