The Albany Gazette - Zurich Diamond League: five events to watch

Melissa Jefferson-Wooden faces off against Julien Alfred in the women's 100m and Karsten Warholm will seek revenge over Alison Dos Santos in the men's 400m hurdles at a sell-out 25,000-capacity Letzigrund Stadium.

AFP Sport looks at five events to follow:

Women's 800m

After triumphing at the European champs in Birmingham, Werro competed immediately at Lausanne, where she held off a fast-improving Femke Broeders-Bol for a win in front of an adoring Swiss crowd.

More of the same can be expected in Zurich, although Werro, 22, and Broeders-Bol will be deprived of a showdown with Britain's Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson, a late withdrawal.

There will, however, be the Briton's training partner Georgia Hunter Bell, the European 1,500m champion who won Commonwealth 800m gold.

A strong field is expected to once again push hard for track and field's oldest world record: the 1:53.28 set by Jarmila Kratochvilova of the then-Czechoslovakia back in 1983.

"The turnaround after the European championships was very short, so I had to recover quickly, and I felt more tired than usual," Werro said after winning in Lausanne.

Broeders-Bol, a former two-time world 400m hurdles champion, ran a national record of 1:54.41 to finish a very close second, saying it had given her confidence "that I belong with the best. I need to trust myself, keep pushing after 500 metres, stop protecting myself too much and simply enjoy racing".

Men's 800m

While there has been much talk of an assault on David Rudisha's world record in the men's 800m, which the Kenyan set when winning Olympic gold in London in 2012, it has never quite materialised.

On paper the starting list for Zurich has all the elements for a fast race.

Kenya's new 1,000-metre world record holder Emmanuel Wanyonyi heads the field, the Olympic and world champion capable of pushing Rudisha's time of 1min 40.91sec on his day.

Canada's Marco Arop, Wanyonyi's predecessor as world champion, Algerian Djamel Sedjati and France's Gabriel Tual -- who failed to make the European final -- make up the four fastest active 800m runners in history.

Women's 100m

In the Silesia Diamond League meet on Sunday, Jefferson-Wooden timed 10.78sec to come out top in her first head-to-head over 100m with Olympic champion Alfred, second at 0.05sec.

"I have two more meets coming up this season and I want to make them count. I am just trying to build on what I have been doing all season," said the American.

Alfred, whose gold at the Paris Games were the first of any colour for her tiny Caribbean island of St Lucia, expressed hope she'd run better in Zurich.

"It is the start," she said. "If I get better there then I can win. It is a lot to work on."

Also in the field are Britain's European champion Amy Hunt, American 2023 world champion Sha'Carri Richardson, New Zealand's Commonwealth champion Zoe Hobbs and Jamaica's Tina Clayton.

Men's 1,500m

Jakob Ingebrigtsen's return to Diamond League action resulted in a fourth-placed finish in a loaded 1,500m in the Silesia meet.

The "rusty" Norwegian was outpaced down the home straight in a race won by unheralded American Ethan Strand in 3:30.77.

"I was forced to do more 5,000m specific training for the European championships," he said of his gold medal showing in Birmingham.

"So I have been preparing for the 1,500m for the last 10 days only. I believe with every day now I will be more ready to race over 1,500m, so give me four days and I should be stronger."

Men's 400m hurdles

Before the season started, Karsten Warholm -- a Zurich favourite -- enjoyed a 13 wins to four record over Alison Dos Santos.

That has changed dramatically, to 13-8, with the Brazilian 2022 world champion arguably in the form of his life and having notched up four victories over his Norwegian rival.

After Warholm won in London with a world-leading time, with Dos Santos absent, the 26-year-old Brazilian responded with a time of 46.48sec at the national championships to reclaim the world-leading time.

He reduced that by a further 0.05sec when reeling in Warholm, 30, for victory in Silesia. It was the sixth fastest time ever run.

The stage is thus set for what should be yet another epic showdown between two hurdlers at the top of their game.

(J.Torres--TAG)