The athletics season ends Thursday in Zurich with the traditional Weltklasse Diamond League meeting. But following the Worlds and the Europeans, the stars are tired.
One last nudge. At the end of a busy season, the athletes will be able to breathe. The covid has shaken up the calendar with the Tokyo Olympics last year and the Eugene Worlds this summer. The 2022 season should have been calm for non-Europeans. But it was demanding for all the athletes who are not from the Old Continent and exhausting for Europeans who chained Eugene and Munich. The Diamond League finals, 6 Wednesdays and 26 Thursdays, should allow the best to inflate their wallets.
Brilliant European champion in the 200m and vice-champion of Europe in the 100m, Mujinga Kambundji preferred to focus on the 200m at Letzigrund, rather than doubling with the straight line. The Bernese logically motivated her decision by great fatigue. She will face the Jamaican Shericka Jackson who has chosen to double. To see how the 200m world champion will feel following her duel with her compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce in the 100m.
And Mujinga Kambundji is clearly no exception. We have seen that the best performances of the year are rare since athletes have often programmed their peak form for mid-July or early August. Still, this meeting spread over three hours (7 to 10 p.m.) will most certainly see some reference times.
On the track, the 100m hurdles promises a lot with a new duel Amusan – Camacho-Quinn. Winner in Brussels in 12”27, the Olympic champion is in good shape. Present in this final, Ditaji Kambundji will try to keep up. As in Lausanne, the men’s 200m which will close this edition promises to be explosive with Noah Lyles opposed to Erriyon Knighton.
Duel Ehammer-Tentoglou
The Zurich public will be very attentive to the men’s length with Simon Ehammer. The Appenzell decathlete, specialist in length, will want a prestigious victory once morest world champion Miltiadis Tentoglou. The Greek indeed took over the best world performance of the year from Ehammer (8m52 once morest 8m45). “If the weather is good and the conditions are ideal, I think a jump of around 8m30 is at least possible”predicts the European silver medalist in the decathlon.
Apart from Ehammer and the Kambundji sisters, 7 Swiss athletes will have the right to tread the Letzigrund tartan. Jason Joseph will be present on a very good 110m hurdles, Lore Hofmann will try to go below 1’59 on 800m, Ricky Petrucciani will boldly play his luck on 400m and Chiara Scherrer will have a lot of competition on 3000m steeplechase. There still remain Annik Kälin in the length, Julien Bonvin in the 400m hurdles and the regional of the stage Dominik Alberto in the pole vault.
ats/pc