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Weltklasse Zürich 2012 – 14 Olympic and 11 World Champions to Compete

14 newly-crowned Olympic champions, 11 reigning world champions, and 14 current world leaders will line up for the Samsung Diamond League final event at a sold-out Letzigrund Stadium on Thursday night - or in the case of the shot putters, at Zurich Main Station on Wednesday. Spectators and viewers will be treated to 19 events with fields of athletes that in some cases outshine the Olympic finals in London.

„We have worked hard to put together a very special night of athletics,” Meeting Director Patrick Magyar said. “Weltklasse Zürich has presented the world’s strongest fields of athletes for the past eight years. And a preview compiled by the statistics provider All-Athletics.com suggests, that this year will be no different.”  The outlook is quite impressive, indeed: The athletes participating at Weltklasse Zürich 2012, have accumulated as many as 64 Olympic medals (47 medals in individual events), 44 world championship medals (30 medals in individual events), and 30 European championships medals (25 medals in individual events) over the course the last 12 month (as at 29 August 9 a.m.).

Most of the 17 disciplines staged in the international programme of events and the two shot put events at Zurich Main Station seem to revive the finals of the recent Olympic Games. In some cases, the fields are even more illustrious than in London, where the participants per country were limited to three in every event. The absence of this rule will become particularly obvious in the sprints with its strong protagonists from Jamaica, and of course in the long-distance races, where the traditionally dominant runners from Africa will demonstrate that many of them are very hard to beat. In addition, the date of the meeting fits ideally into the athletes’ schedules for the summer, as it allows enough time to recover from the Olympic series of competitions.

Rudisha plans to race against the clock
This is particularly true for David Rudisha (KEN). After his historical world record run at the Olympics, Rudisha has been preparing for the Zurich race in Tübingen, Germany. His appearance in the 800m will be his only post-Olympic race this year, and will most definitely represent one of the highlights at Weltklasse Zürich.

Another athlete looking forward to a special race on Thursday is 400m h Olympic champion Félix Sánchez (DOM). He has been staying in Zurich for a week, preparing for a gift for his 35th birthday to himself that cannot be bought: a fifth win at Letzigrund Stadium.

Focus on sprint events
The high-profile events will of course include the sprint races. The women’s 100m will feature the Olympic champions Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (JAM, 100m) and Allyson Felix (USA, 200m), as well as world champion Carmelita Jeter (USA). The men’s 100m and 200m fields will be just as star-studded: world champion and 2011 Weltklasse Zürich winner Yohan Blake (JAM) will be challenged by the US star sprinters Tyson Gay and Ryan Bailey, as well as by European champion Christophe Lemaitre (FRA). In the 200m, superstar Usain Bolt (JAM), will face as many as five sub-20-seconds runners, including Olympic bronze medallist Warren Weir (JAM), and Jason Young (JAM), the winner of the race in Lucerne earlier this season.

The women’s quarter-mile will be a rematch of the final in London: Olympic champion Sanya Richards-Ross (USA) will try to prove her predominance against no less than six of her opponents in London, and against 400m h Olympic champion Natalya Antyukh (RUS).

Weltklasse Zürich at Zurich Main Station: Samsung Diamond League shot put final events
The Samsung Diamond League final events in the shot put will be the prelude to the 2012 Weltklasse Zürich field events. They will be staged a temporary arena set up in the hall of Zurich Main Station. Virtually the entire elite of the women’s and the men’s shot put will be competing on Wednesday afternoon, as of 5.30 p.m. (free access to standing area). The two Olympic champions Valerie Adams (NZL) and Tomasz Majewski (POL), as well as world champion David Storl (GER) will be the most famous stars. Local talent Gregori Ott, no doubt one of the crowd favourites, will be in the field of shot put greats for the second time. In 2011, his best attempt of 20.00m marked a U18 national record (5 kg shot). This year, Ott will use a 6kg shot, trying to break his own U20 record of 17.51m. Prior to the competitions, passers-by and fans will have the opportunity to have a go at the sophisticated discipline themselves in an all-comers event.

In the field events at Letzigrund Stadium, the athletes will be able to display their outstanding technical skills, but at the same time, they will have to prevail against strong competitors: Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie (FRA) will be facing all nine other athletes ranking in the 2012 top ten list of the world’s best pole vaulters. In the men’s high jump, the six best jumpers of the season will compete. The start list includes Olympic champion Ivan Ukhov (RUS), and world champion Jesse Williams (USA). In the women’s discus throw, Olympic and European champion Sandra Perkovic (CRO) will try to break the oldest meeting record (dating back to 1975).

Swiss competitors in the international programme of events: Pusterla, Wilson, Hochuli, and the 4x100m relay team
National record holder Irene Pusterla intends to continue her series of great Zurich results in the women’s long jump. In the past two years, Pusterla placed third and fourth, prevailing in a field of world elite athletes. The European championship finalist of Helsinki will again be facing the best jumpers worldwide. Swiss champion Alexander Hochuli (triple jump) and Alex Wilson (200m) will have an opportunity to compete in front of their home crowd, as well. Wilson will also be a member of the 4x100m relay team lining-up for the Zurich Trophy at the end of the evening. Switzerland’s team will probably include all members of the team who placed fifth at the European championships in Helsinki earlier this year: Alex Wilson, Marc Schneeberger, Reto Amaru Schenkel and Rolf Malcolm Fongué.

Many, mainly young, Swiss athletes will be competing in the Weltklasse Zürich national programme, including the members of the Olympic Swiss relay team (Michelle Cueni, Mujinga Kambundji, Lea Sprunger, Ellen Sprunger), who will compete in the 200m race. World junior championship silver medallist Noemi Zbären (100m h) will be leading the Swiss team in the Young Diamond’s Challenge, a U23 international match involving four events.

Entry lists, timetable.