Budapest champions rule at Thursday night Zurich Diamond League
From the peak of the World Championships there is only one way to go, so the Weltklasse meeting in Zurich, taking place just four days after the championships finished, shaped as a potential trip hazard for the 12 world champions who turned out as the Wanda Diamond League resumed Thursday night.
Nine of them avoided the obvious danger and maintained that winning feeling in front of the usual packed house of 25,000 passionate fans at the Letzigrund Stadium
Triple world sprint champion Noah Lyles loves a big crowd and was lifted by their energy as he faced a world championships-final strength field in the 200m to crown the night.
Lyles was challenged by the young pretender to the title, world silver medallist Erriyon Knighton, but prevailed in 19.80. Knighton was less than a metre behind (19.87) with Zharnel Hughes a close third (19.94).
“Everybody wants to beat me and everybody wants the cake and the crown, but I am not giving it to them,” Lyles said. “Today, we did not have perfect conditions, it was pretty cold. But a win is a win.”
Sha’Carri Richardson also began her reign as the world’s fastest woman in fine style, dominating the women’s 100m to win in 10.88 on a cool night, less than ideal for sprinters.
“I am feeling really good for being able to finish this season as fast as I can,” she said. “I am definitely grateful, and I am excited with the way this season is going. Today, I felt like I executed, and I felt good about my performance.”
Jamaican duo Natasha Richardson and Elaine Thompson-Herah (both 11.00) followed her home. That was a season’s best for dual Olympic champion Thompson-Herah, who is only now finding her form with less than a month remaining of the international outdoor season.
World 200m champion Shericka Jackson remained supreme in her preferred event, winning by four metres (21.82) from Britain’s Daryll Neita (22.25) and Kayla White (22.33).
The women’s 100m hurdles is arguably the most competition event on the track at the moment, but Jamaican Danielle Williams also backed up her Budapest victory, triumphing in 12.54 from US duo Alaysha Johnson (12.58) and Kendra Harrison (12.59).
Many athletes did not know quite what to expect in Zurich but hoped that their peak form would hold up against any lingering mental and physical fatigue.
In the field, there was plenty of ambition on show as Mondo Duplantis attempted a world pole vault record of 6.23m at one end of the track and Mutaz Barshim took a look at 2.40m in the high jump at the other.
The spirit was willing, but the body was not, and both had to content themselves with a comfortable victory.
Duplantis, arguably the most dominant performer in athletics, took the win at 6.00m as two-time world champion Sam Kendricks set a season’s best of 5.95m for second and KC Lightfoot took third (5.85m) on a countback.
“The 6.23m jumps felt surprisingly good,” Duplantis said. “After the 6m jump, I wanted to wake myself up and make something crazy. My energy was low. Such a height is not easy only four days after the World Championships. Coming down from that high was draining. My legs felt flat. I wanted to get myself back into world record mentality.”
