Weltklasse Zürich () is an annual, invitation-only, world-class

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

meeting at the

Letzigrund Letzigrund () is a stadium in Zurich, Switzerland, the home of the football (soccer), football clubs FC Zürich and Grasshopper Club Zürich, as well as the Sport of athletics, athletics club . The original stadium was constructed by members of FC ...

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the

IAAF Golden League The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of outdoor track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Athletes who won specific events at all of the series meetings were awarded a jackpot prize ...

events, it now serves as a final of the Wanda Diamond League, alongside

Memorial Van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it now serves as a final event of the D ...

between 2010 and 2019. In 2021 and 2022, Weltklasse Zürich served as the sole final of the Diamond League, and this is also planned for 2025 and 2027. So far, 27 world records have been set at Weltklasse Zürich. In 1988, Carl Lewis won the 100-meter duel against Ben Johnson. The time of 9.93 seconds was upgraded to a world record a year later, following Johnson’s doping case. One of the first large-scale international athletics events (outside the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

), it is sometimes referred to as the one-day

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

. With a budget of about ten million Swiss francs, Weltklasse Zürich ranks among the most expensive events in athletics. Every year, it draws around 25,000 fans to Letzigrund Stadium, with competitions broadcast in up to 135 countries. Since 2014, Christoph Joho and Andreas Hediger have led the organization as co-directors. Weltklasse Zürich first took place on 12 August 1928. In the beginning, the meeting was nicknamed by the public the "Nurmi meeting" after the most admired and celebrated participant at the time,

Paavo Nurmi Paavo Johannes Nurmi (; 13 June 1897 – 2 October 1973) was a Finland, Finnish middle-distance running, middle-distance and long-distance running, long-distance runner. He was called the "Flying Finn" because he dominated distance running in th ...

. On 21 June 1960, on the Letzigrund track, Armin Hary became the first human to run the 100 m dash in 10.0 seconds. UBS has supported Weltklasse Zürich as its main sponsor since 1981. Other sponsors are Vaudoise Assurances,

Migros Migros () is Switzerland's largest retail company, its largest supermarket chain and largest employer. It is also one of the forty largest retailers in the world. It is structured in the form of a cooperative federation (the Federation of Migros ...

, Le Gruyère Switzerland, Medica,

Omega Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota, Toyota Motor Corporation. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked amon ...

, Erdgas and Puma.

History

The meeting was conceived in 1924 by the athletic section of the FC Zürich which became the Leichtathletik Club Zürich in 1934, and was first held at the

on a dirt track on 12 August 1928 as the Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting in Zürich."Weltklasse: 1928-2003"
''

Swissinfo SWI swissinfo.ch is a Swiss Multilingualism, multilingual international news and information company based in Bern. It is a part of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR). Its content is Swiss-centred, with top priority given to in-depth ...

''. 14 August 2003. Retrieved 16 May 2021. Since 1935 it also became known as the "American Meeting", similar to the

Bislett Games The Bislett Games is an annual track and field meeting at the Bislett Stadium in Oslo, Norway. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamond League. History The first international athletics meeting at Bislett ...

, and this continued into the 1950s. A notable hiatus occurred after the 1952 meeting until the rebuilt Letzigrund Stadium opened in 1958, although a meeting had still been planned for August 1954. The name "Weltklasse Zürich" was adopted in 1959. The meet would not be held regularly on an annual basis until 1973, and the Weltklasse introduced electronic timing the following year. During 2020 the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

prevented Weltklasse Zürich from taking place, instead an event called ''Inspiration Games'' was held.

Track surface

The first surface was made of dirt in 1928, and the first synthetic track surface in Europe was installed in 1968. The number of lanes was increased to eight in the early 1970s which forced the Weltklasse to be put on hold for two years for the construction to take place. The current surface at the Letzigrund Stadium was developed in 2014 by the Swiss company CONICA. The new surface was installed in June 2014 at a cost of 800,000 CHF and was paid for by the city of Zurich, which owns Letzigrund Stadium.

Editions

Some of the earliest editions were bilateral matches that are not counted among the 29 "Internationales" and Weltklasse meetings organized from 1928 til 1977.

World records

Over the course of its history, numerous world records have been set at Weltklasse Zürich.

Meeting records

Men

Women

References

External links

* *
Diamond League – Zürich Official Web Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weltklasse Zurich Sports competitions in Zurich Diamond League IAAF Golden League Athletics competitions in Switzerland Recurring sporting events established in 1928 Summer in Switzerland IAAF World Outdoor Meetings