English
Athletes, who want to start at Weltklasse Zürich, have to qualify like in the past two years. At a total of twelve qualification meetings of the IAAF Diamond League, as many points as possible have to be collected. The best athletes in each discipline will receive a starting place in the final. Only the victory in the final event decides who gets the title "Diamond League Champion 2019". At Weltklasse Zürich, 16 final disciplines will be held and the winners will be awarded the Diamond Trophy and a prize money of 50,000 dollars. The second final with the other 16 disciplines will take place one week later in Brussels. All 32 trophies are currently produced by our partner Conica. At the end of the article we will give an exclusive insight into the production.
World class athletes already in good shape
The first points were spreaded at the IAAF Diamond League Meetings in Doha and Shanghai. So far, all disciplines of Weltklasse Zürich, with exception of the women’s triple jump, have been represented once. Sprinter Noah Lyles caused a stir with his 100m victory in Shanghai. he impressed with a strong second half of the race, in which he pasts his competitors like 60m world record holder Christian Coleman. Already in 2018 Lyles enthused the Zurich audience with his victory over 200m and subsequent dance performances.
The men’s season over 400m hurdles is eagerly awaited. In Shanghai, Abderrahman Samba, the second fastest long hurdler of all time, prevailed against 21-year-old Rai Benjamin, number four on the all-time world best list. At the last two final races in Zurich, Kyron McMaster won ahead of World and European Champion Karsten Warholm, whose first races of the season in the IAAF Diamond League are still pending. As the only Weltklasse Zürich winner of 2018, javelin thrower Andreas Hofmann has so far had a win of the season on his side.
Current overview of the IAAF Diamond League qualification
Programme of Weltklasse Zürich 2019