Burgin chases down the Olympic champion in Zurich whereas Georgia Hunter Bell units private greatest forward of Tokyo
The second and ultimate night time of the 2025 Wanda Diamond League ultimate delivered on all fronts at Zürich’s Letzigrund Stadium on August 28, defying gloomy forecasts and as a substitute providing near-perfect circumstances for an evening that noticed nationwide information and private bests be damaged.
Among the many many standout performances on a packed night of athletics, the boys’s 800m supplied maybe probably the most gripping end. An exciting three-man dash to the road noticed Kenya’s Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi retain his Diamond League crown by the narrowest of margins, clocking 1:42.37 to carry off a fast-closing Max Burgin.
The 22-year-old Brit, who had powered via the sector from mid-pack, surged down the ultimate straight in one of the crucial composed races of his profession, solely narrowly lacking out on the win. His time of 1:42.42 was simply six hundredths shy of his private greatest (1:42.36) and served as an enormous assertion forward of subsequent month’s World Championships in Tokyo.
“I went into this race approaching it equally to how I did in Lausanne,” stated Burgin. “I feel I might need gone a contact early in Lausanne and blown up on the finish. I feel at this time, I do know I did not fairly end it off on the finish however I feel it was a a lot stronger end and time.
“It is about studying how greatest to utilise the kick on the finish in these kind of races. It is undoubtedly one thing that’s approaching. In these types of races, you at all times know there’s going to be somebody respiratory down your neck. You simply by no means know, so it is advisable push proper till the top in any other case somebody will catch you.”
Canada’s Marco Arop, the reigning world champion, was additionally proper within the combine — closing laborious within the ultimate metres however settling for third in 1:42.57 after a carefully contested battle.
Nice Britain’s success within the 800m wasn’t restricted to the boys’s occasion. Within the girls’s race, Georgia Hunter Bell delivered a powerful efficiency to take second place behind Switzerland’s Audrey Werro. In a home-straight showdown that had the Zurich crowd roaring, Werro held off Hunter Bell’s cost to take the win in 1:55.91 — a Swiss nationwide report — whereas Bell crossed simply 5 hundredths behind in 1:55.96.
That run not solely marked a private greatest for Bell but in addition propelled her to 3rd on the UK all-time checklist, behind Keely Hodgkinson and Jemma Reekie.
Having claimed Olympic bronze over 1500m in Paris, Bell not too long ago made the choice to focus solely on the 800m at this yr’s World Championships in Tokyo. After her race, she defined the rationale behind that call.
“The principle factor that stood out to me was that though the schedule permitted it, the truth was that the stadium [in Tokyo] is admittedly distant and by the point I acquired via the 1500m ultimate I most likely would not sleep that night time as a result of it is at 10pm. I might most likely survive the primary spherical of the 800m however I might be lifeless meat going into that semi-final the place it’s only high two to qualify.”
The lads’s 200m introduced the night time to an in depth with one other dramatic end, this time that includes a showdown between Noah Lyles and Letsile Tebogo. It was Tebogo who led off the bend and into the house straight, wanting poised to grab the win, however Lyles surged within the ultimate metres to edge forward on the line and safe his Diamond League title.
Lyles stopped the clock at 19.74 (-0.6), simply away from Tebogo’s 19.76.
The ladies’s 200m additionally delivered a high-stakes battle, with Brittany Brown producing one of many largest wins of her profession. The American held off Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith down the straight to assert victory in 22.13 (-0.4), with Asher-Smith shut behind in 22.18.
For Brown, the win carried additional significance. As she had not beforehand certified for the World Championships in Tokyo, this Diamond League title secures her a wildcard place on Crew USA.
Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith completed third in 22.25, whereas Britain’s Amy Hunt positioned sixth total, clocking 22.61 in her first Diamond League ultimate.
Within the males’s 1500m, all eyes had been on Yared Nuguse, who wanted a win to safe a wildcard spot for the World Championships. However the American pale within the ultimate lap, in the end crossing the road in seventh with 3:30.84 — properly wanting what he wanted.
As a substitute, the second belonged to the Netherlands’ Niels Laros. The 19-year-old sensation ran with outstanding maturity, timing his transfer to perfection and pulling clear within the ultimate metres to win in 3:29.20, breaking his personal Dutch nationwide report. Behind him, Kenya’s Reynold Cheruiyot (3:29.91) and Kipkosgei Koech (3:30.02) rounded out the rostrum in a hotly contested end.
The ladies’s 1500m additionally got here right down to a final-straight battle, with Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir snatching victory within the closing strides from Australia’s Jessica Hull. Hull had hit the entrance early within the final lap however started to tie up visibly with metres to go, the lactic clearly setting in.
Chepchirchir pounced with a late burst, taking the win in 3:56.99, simply forward of Hull’s 3:57.02, whereas Linden Corridor secured third in 3:57.44.
One other standout second got here within the males’s 3000m, the place France’s Jimmy Gressier delivered a shocking end. In an exciting dash to the road, Gressier unleashed a robust final 200 metres to edge out Grant Fisher by simply three hundredths of a second. Gressier crossed in 7:36.78, with Fisher narrowly behind in 7:36.81. Sweden’s Andreas Almgren accomplished the photo-finish podium, taking third in 7:36.82.
The 400m hurdles had been anticipated to be gained by Norway’s Karsten Warholm and the Netherlands’ Femke Bol — and each delivered in fashion. Warholm claimed the boys’s title in a commanding 46.70, setting a gathering report and leaving the sector behind.
Bol, too, dazzled the group, smashing the ladies’s assembly report with a powerful 52.18 with each athletes working with dominating leads.
The lads’s 100m ultimate produced an exciting battle as Christian Coleman clinched the Diamond League title by the slimmest of margins. The 2019 world champion and 60m world record-holder clocked 9.97 (-0.4), simply edging out Akani Simbine, who ran 9.98, and Ackeem Blake in 9.99.
In distinction, the ladies’s 100m was a extra decisive race as St Lucia’s Julien Alfred made a robust assertion forward of Tokyo. Her commanding 10.76 (0.3) victory marks one of many quickest instances of the season — the Olympic champion has solely run faster as soon as, with a ten.75 in Stockholm.
Tia Clayton completed second in 10.84, whereas Marie-Josée Ta Lou-Smith initially confronted disqualification for a false begin however was reinstated after working below protest, securing third place in 10.92. Dina Asher-Smith additionally competed in each the 100m and 200m, posting a stable 10.94 within the shorter dash.
The longstanding rivalry between Salwa Eid Naser and Marileidy Paulino within the girls’s 400m took a brand new flip in Zurich. Traditionally, Paulino had usually edged out Naser, however this time it was the Bahraini star who claimed victory, crossing the road in 48.70 to shatter Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 43-year-old assembly report of 48.86.
Paulino completed second in 49.23, whereas Nice Britain’s Amber Anning ran a season’s greatest 49.75 to position fifth.
On the boys’s aspect, Jacory Patterson impressed by overcoming a extremely aggressive subject, decreasing his private greatest from 43.98 to 43.85 as he took the win.
Whereas a lot of the subject occasions befell on the primary night time, the ultimate night nonetheless featured some memorable performances contained in the stadium.
Mykolas Alekna and Valarie Allman as soon as once more proved themselves the undisputed rulers of the discus. Lithuania’s Alekna threw a better of 68.89m to assert his title, whereas the USA’s Allman secured her crown with a successful mark of 69.18m — each efficiently defending the titles they gained final yr.
Within the girls’s javelin, Elina Tzengko claimed her first Diamond League victory, delivering a powerful 64.57m throw to take the win.
The lads’s javelin was marked by a shocking efficiency from Germany’s Julian Weber, who not solely gained however twice improved the world-leading mark. His greatest throw of 91.51m locations him 14th on the all-time international checklist.
For the complete outcomes click on right here.
