Noah Lyles secured a record sixth sprint title and Julian Weber launched a world lead, while Karsten Warholm and Cordell Tinch were among the record-breakers as the Wanda Diamond League Final concluded in style in Zurich on Thursday (28).
A total of 26 Diamond League titles – plus prize money and wild card entries for the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25 – were up for grabs on the second day of Weltklasse Zürich action, and Lyles secured the final win of the evening. But only just.
The Olympic 100m champion was pushed all the way by Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo and in the end they were separated by just two hundredths of a second – USA’s Lyles winning in 19.74 (-0.6m/s). Botswana’s Tebogo matched his season’s best with 19.76, while Dominican Republic’s Alexander Ogando was third in 20.14.
It is a fifth Diamond League 200m title since 2017 for Lyles. Adding that to the 100m title he won in 2019, the US sprinter becomes the most successful track athlete in the history of the Diamond League, just one title short of the overall record.
“Six (Diamond Trophies), it is a big number. I heard that is the highest number in track,” he said. “Another record on the list – it is pretty nice to have that. My plan now is to go to Amsterdam, where I am based in Europe, and from there I will go to Japan. I am going there with a lot of energy – I will use that to my advantage.”
Weber showed great energy of his own in the javelin. The 2022 European champion started as the world leader and he improved on that mark twice, throwing 91.37m and then 91.51m as part of a superb series.
That added almost half a metre to the previous world lead and PB of 91.06m he achieved to win the Diamond League meeting in Doha and in Zurich he won by six and a half metres, India’s world champion Neeraj Chopra his closest challenger with 85.01m.
It will be a welcome confidence boost ahead of the World Championships for Germany’s Weber, who finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics and the past two editions of the World Championships. His 91.51m is the farthest throw ever achieved during a Diamond League Final.
Norway’s Warholm further proved that he is well on track ahead of his world title defence, improving his own meeting record to 46.70 to win his third Diamond Trophy since 2019. That is a time that only world record-holder Warholm, Rai Benjamin and Alison dos Santos have ever beaten, and it followed Warholm’s world lead of 46.28 in Silesia.
Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba was second in 47.45 and Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel was third in 47.56.
USA’s world leader Cordell Tinch equalled a meeting record that was set in 1989, capping an impressive Diamond League season with another victory in 12.92 (0.3m/s) – the second-fastest performance of his career behind the 12.87 he clocked at the Diamond League meeting in Shaoxing/Keqiao.
That 12.87 moved him to joint fourth on the world all-time list and after opening his campaign with victory in Xiamen he backed up those results with wins in Silesia and Lausanne, before claiming the crown in Zurich.
Spain’s Enrique Llopis was second in a season’s best of 13.12 and USA’s Jamal Britt was third in 13.21.
USA’s world indoor bronze medallist Jacory Patterson continued his breakthrough season by dominating the 400m to win his first Diamond League title in a PB of 43.85.
After his series wins in Rabat and Brussels, Patterson had the race of his life to triumph ahead of Botswana’s Bayapo Ndori, who clocked 44.40, and USA’s Vernon Norwood, who finished third in 44.45. Norwood, who finished fourth at the US Championships, will now be in line for a World Championships place after US champion Patterson’s win gained him a wild card.
There was also a US win in the 100m, as Christian Coleman pipped South Africa’s Akani Simbine and Jamaica’s defending champion Ackeem Blake. Just 0.02 covered the top three, Coleman winning in 9.97 (-0.4m/s).
Wanyonyi, Laros and Gressier impress
Kenya’s Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi won a fight with Great Britain’s Max Burgin to secure his third successive Diamond League 800m crown.
Wanyonyi, who set a world lead of 1:41.44 in Monaco, led off the final bend but Burgin launched an attack. Wanyonyi had saved enough for a final surge, though, and he held off his rival – 1:42.37 to 1:42.42. Canada’s world champion Marco Arop was third in 1:42.57.
After series wins in Oregon and Brussels, Niels Laros saved his best performance for when it mattered the most – breaking the Dutch record with 3:29.20 to claim a decisive win in the 1500m.
World leader Azeddine Habz of France moved straight behind the two pacemakers, ahead of USA’s Olympic bronze medallist Yared Nuguse who was on the hunt for a wild card for Tokyo. Kenya’s 18-year-old Phanuel Koech then moved into second place between the pair, and that’s how things stayed as they reached the bell. Laros was in fourth place but comfortably passed his rivals, one by one, surging off the bend and judging his race to perfection to win clear ahead of Kenya’s Reynold Cheruiyot, who also finished fast to set a PB of 3:29.91. Koech was third in 3:30.02.
After seven laps of the track, the men’s 3000m came down to a frantic sprint finish and it was French record-holder Jimmy Gressier who prevailed. Sweden’s Andreas Almgren had the slight advantage as they hit the home straight, but his rivals were ready to strike and Gressier did it best to win in 7:36.78. USA’s double Olympic bronze medallist Grant Fisher chased him over the finish in 7:36.81, while Almgren was third in 7:36.82.
Germany’s Frederik Ruppert – who broke through with an 8:01.49 runner-up finish in Rabat – continued that fine form to clinch the biggest win of his career so far in the 3000m steeplechase.
He took the lead on the penultimate lap and was followed by Kenya’s world U20 champion Edmund Serem, whose brother Amos won last year’s Diamond League title. They battled over the final water jump, but Ruppert managed to hold his lead and won in 8:09.02 to Serem’s 8:09.96. Morocco’s Salaheddine Ben Yazide was third in 8:14.10.
Lithuania’s Mykolas Alekna added a first discus Diamond Trophy to a CV that already included the world record, two world medals and an Olympic silver. He had three valid attempts but any of them would have clinched the win – his best of 68.89m coming in the third round. The 2022 world champion Kristjan Ceh was second with 67.18m.
Portugal’s Pedro Pichardo showed his intent with an opening round leap of 17.47m as he started his triple jump title defence. But he couldn’t respond when world leader Andy Diaz managed 17.56m in the fourth round and the Italian secured his third Diamond League title.
There was a first Diamond Trophy for New Zealand’s Olympic champion Hamish Kerr in the high jump as he cleared 2.32m to take the title ahead of Oleh Doroshchuk with 2.30m.
Jess Whittington for World Athletics
Results | day one report | day two women’s events report