Swiss athletics fans will be enjoying an action-packed summer this year. Eleven days after the European Athletics Championships Z\u00fcrich 2014 (12 \u2013 17 August), Letzigrund Stadium will be the venue for yet another highlight of the season: Weltklasse Z\u00fcrich 2014 (28 August). The traditional gathering of the world\u2019s athletics superstars will once again feature Usain Bolt. The fastest man of the world has already confirmed his appearance at the IAAF Diamond League final event. \u201cI always look forward to running in Zurich,\u201d said the six-time Olympic champion and triple world record holder. \u201cThe event is always extremely well organised. The atmosphere at Letzigrund Stadium is unique, and the crowd is world-class.\u201d Bolt will run for the seventh time in Z\u00fcrich and again lead a field of the world\u2019s best athletes.<\/p>\n
A new surface for the track at Letzigrund Stadium<\/strong> Early Renovation<\/strong> Meeting Director looking forward to another world-class feature for Weltklasse Z\u00fcrich<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The fastest man of the world will compete at Weltklasse Z\u00fcrich on 28 August. The organisers are...","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":335,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"city":[],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-zurich"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurich.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurich.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurich.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurich.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zurich.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurich.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurich.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurich.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurich.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurich.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
For all track athletes competing at Weltklasse Z\u00fcrich this year, the organisers have great news, a new top-performance track surface. The renowned Swiss company CONICA has developed a solution system that is designed to help athletes run even faster times. The existing track will not be replaced but retopped with a new surface. Extensive tests conducted by the Institute of Biomechanics and Orthopaedics of the German Sport University Cologne have confirmed the benefits of the new system. \u201eThe new surface provides athletes with better stability of the big toes, ankles, and in particular of their knees. This effect results in a smaller loss of energy in these joints, and therefore in less oscillation of the body\u2019s centre of gravity. The new surface of the track therefore creates even better conditions for fast times,\u201d explained Professor Gert-Peter Br\u00fcggemann, who led the studies. J\u00fcrgen Widler, Head of Technology at CONICA, is justifiably proud of the company\u2019s new product: \u201cWe are convinced that we managed to launch a new generation of artificial surfaces with this solution system.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new surface will be installed as of 12 June. The cost of CHF 800 000.00 will be paid by the City of Zurich, the owner of Letzigrund Stadium. \u201eWe would like Letzigrund Stadium to be ready for the series of athletics highlights of this summer,\u201c said City Councillor and Head of the Department of School and Sport Gerold Lauber. The track is due to be renovated in two or three years in any case. \u201cBut as we will have both the European Athletics Championships Z\u00fcrich 2014 and Weltklasse Z\u00fcrich at the stadium this year, we think it\u2019s worthwhile bringing the track into shape a little earlier than initially planned,\u201c Lauber explained. <\/p>\n
Patrick Magyar, Weltklasse Z\u00fcrich Meeting Director is optimistic that the new track surface will indeed help stage an even more thrilling IAAF Diamond League final event. \u201cWe have had the best line-up in the world for eleven years in a row. The new surface is another big step in the meeting\u2019s constant efforts to create the best possible conditions for the best athletes in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n