The battle for a place in the Wanda Diamond League Final reaches its climax this week as the sport’s biggest stars lock horns in Zurich.
Here are five things to look out for at Weltklasse this year:
Final tickets at the train station
The action in Zurich will get underway on Wednesday evening, with six of the current top ten in the world rankings set to hit the runway in the women’s pole vault at the city’s central train station. The prize is a place at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels, amid a qualification race that remains too close to call even at this late stage. Angelica Moser and Nina Kennedy have already booked their tickets to Brussels, meaning nine athletes will be battling it out for the remaining four places in Zurich. With only nine points currently separating Tina Šutej in third from Sandi Morris down in tenth, every height could theoretically prove decisive in the race for the final.
Warholm out for revenge
Karsten Warholm may be the reigning Diamond League champion in the men’s 400m hurdles, but he has had to play second fiddle to Brazilian rival throughout this season. The two men have met three times on the Diamond League stage in 2026, with Dos Santos winning on every single occasion. Even a season’s best wasn’t enough for Warholm in Silesia on Sunday, although the Norwegian was closer than ever to catching his rival on the home straight. In Zurich, he will be hoping to go one better and finally land a first win over Dos Santos in 2026. “I always want to win, you know, it’s like, that’s what I live to do,” he said in Poland.
Ehammer vs Tentoglou
Warholm and Dos Santos is not the only major rivalry on show in Zurich. In the men’s long jump, Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer will be hoping that home advantage can see him overcome Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou for the first time this season. Tentoglou beat Ehammer to gold at the European Championships in Birmingham earlier this month and quickly followed it up with another impressive victory over the Swiss in Lausanne last Friday. Yet Ehammer has form in Zurich, having won the Diamond League title at Weltklasse twice in the last three years.
Can Alfred bite back?
World champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden cemented her status as queen of the women’s 100m in Silesia on Sunday with a cool-headed victory over Olympic champion Julien Alfred, sweeping into the Diamond League Final as she did so. Alfred, who beat Jefferson-Wooden over 200m in Rome earlier this season, was gracious but defiant in defeat. The St. Lucian star insisted that she hoped to deliver a response when the two women meet again in Zurich on Thursday. “She was better today and it’s all about giving people their respect when it’s due, and also about giving me the respect I deserve. Onto the next thing, and I’m hoping Zurich can be better.”
Werro returns to Zurich
Audrey Werro set the Letzigrund alight in the 800m as she stormed to the Diamond League title with a Swiss record. It proved to be the start of an incredible journey for the middle-distance star, who has dominated over two laps this season. In June, broke back-to-back Diamond League records in Stockholm and Paris, becoming the third-fastest woman in history in the process. This month, she bounced back from a dramatic fall to win gold at the European Championships and strengthen her grip at the top of the world rankings. Though she has already qualified for the Diamond League Final, Werro will be out to claim another statement win when she makes an emotional return to Zurich this week.
