This is Stuart Weir’s overview of the 2024 Weltklasse meeting in Zurich at the Letzigrund stadium in Zurich, Switzerland, held on September 4-5, 2024.
Weltklasse Overview
Weltklasse means world-class, and the Zurich Diamond League always lives up to its name. This year, the weather did not get the memo, and the usual late summer sunshine was replaced by rain, making the track and run-ups very wet.
Mondo Duplantis was a double winner. Of course, he won the pole vault with 5.82 just 24 hours after winning the Scandinavian 100 challenge against Karsten Warholm. Remember a few years ago at the Brussels Diamond League, Mondo wanted to race Shelly-Ann?
Mondo won the sprint – with the loser having to race the next day in the national colors of the winner’s nation. It was a fun race, but it was accomplished at a significant cost by both athletes. Mondo explained that he had quit the pole vault at 5.82 because “my body felt wrecked after yesterday´s race. Plus, the weather was freezing. So that was a bad combination. The sprint yesterday was very impressive. For both of us, it was a great experience. It was super amazing. I think we built a super event; it was very new and innovative. And for just being a pre-event show for today. I do not see why there could not be more events like this”.
