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Two out four Olympic champions in individual events suffered a defeat at Weltklasse Zürich. Double Olympic champion Beatrice Chebet (KEN) had 25 000 fans jumping out of their seats in the 5000m. She broke the meeting record in a new world leading time. Local fans were also ecstatic about the 4x100m team’s first win at Letzigrund Stadium.
Zurich

A record run for a double Olympic champion and a historic Swiss triumph

World champion wins at the summit of sprint superstars

Reigning world champion Sha’Carri Richardson (USA) is still the queen of sprint – at least at Zurich’s legendary Letzigrund Stadium. The Olympic silver medallist and Weltklasse Zürich 2023 winner repeated her feat of last year, intercepting Olympic and world indoor champion Julien Alfred (10.89) on the final metres of the race. She won in 10.84. Saint Lucia’s Alfred had come out fast, and was able to keep her training partner and European champion Dina Asher-Smith (10.89) at bay.

Mujinga Kambundji, sixth in two Olympic finals, placed eighth in the race that was held in the rain – just as the Paris final – and in cool temperatures. She clocked 11.14 and thanked local fans for their support. “The stadium crowd gave me so much energy,” the two-time European champion said after the race. The energy provided by her home crowd would also help the 32-year-old and her fellow team members later, during the final event of night.

Double Olympic champion against the clock

She holds both the 5km road and the 10000m world record. And at Weltklasse Zürich, Beatrice Chebet (KEN) was set to run the twelve and a half laps of the 5000m as fast as no other woman before her. Up to 2200m, the double Olympic champion (5000m/10000m) was still on course to achieve the world record mark of 14:00.32, together with two pacemakers. Then, she was all by herself, running against no one but the clock and the green wavelight technology lights – but with the support of the best crowd in the world.

And so, Chebet both pulverised the meeting record which dates back to 2011 (14:30.10) and improved the world leading time by nine seconds to 14:09.52. Only three women have ever run faster.

Olympic champion defeated by her predecessor

In Paris, hurdling queen Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (PUR) had to cede her crown to Masai Russell (USA). While the same athletes made podium as at the Olympics, the top three athletes had to switch places today. At Weltklasse Zürich, Olympic bronze medallist Camacho-Quinn led throughout the race and took the top spot, defeating European champion Cyréna Samba Mayela (FRA) and Olympic champion Russell.

Russell had pointed to the unparalleled level at which athletes currently compete in the 100m hurdles. Thus, world champion Danielle Williams and former world record holder Kendra Harrison had to make do with sixth and seventh place respectively.

Crowd favourite Ditaji Kambundji was disqualified after the race because of a false start. Still, the 22-year-old European silver medallist was relishing every second the appearance in “one the loudest arenas in the world”. 

A serial winner and a farewell

The terrible weather conditions at the beginning of the athletics night were probably most felt by the high jumpers. 22-year-old Yaroslava Mahuchikh (UKR) triumphed once again. The world record holder, and Olympic, world, and European champion was the only athlete to clear 1.96. She remained undefeated in the eighth competition of her season (four of them in the Wanda Diamond League series).

Mahuchikh’s last defeat dates back to 1 March 2024, when she was outjumped by world indoor champion Nicola Olyslagers. The Australian competed in long PUMA tights. She had to settle for second place, just as in Paris. Olympic bronze medallist Iryna Gerashchenko (UKR) placed third.

Switzerland’s Salome Lang concluded her international athletics career with a 1.80m jump. The 26-year-old Basel native won the first of twelve national titles (seven outdoor, 5 indoor titles) ten years ago, and she still holds the national record of 1.97m. In 2021, the year in which she set the record mark, she competed in the European indoor championships and the Olympic Games. She placed fifth in Stockholm, the best result at a Wanda Diamond League meeting. Today, she bid her fans farewell – in the rain and to thunderous applause.

4x100m: A historic win for Switzerland

Switzerland’s 4x100m relay team had never won a race in front of their home crowd. Until today. The members of the team were the same as in the Olympic final: Salomé Kora, Sarah Atcho-Jaquier, Léonie Pointet and Mujinga Kambundji. And this time around, they triumphed, treating the crowd to a historic moment.

The “Red Jets” defeated the Dutch team, who had won in 2023, in 42.55. It was the perfect ending to an exciting athletics night at the European championship arena, in which the country’s athletes had started to fly high in 2014.

800m world champion and Olympic silver medallist Mary Moraa (KEN/1:57.08) and Shiann Salmon (JAM) were the winners of their Weltklasse Zürich competitions this year. Salmon, who had placed sixth in the Paris final, ran a new personal best in 52.97 and claimed her first “Zurich Trophy”.