Just five days following the conclusion of an exhilarating World Championships, a blend of world champions, medalists and a seemingly infinite number of finalists will gather in Zurich, Switzerland, for the Diamond League Weltklasse meeting.  

A whopping 14 gold medalists from Budapest will swiftly be back in competition tomorrow, with just a pair of Diamond League disciplines without its 2023 world champion. 

Just a few of the stars that will be in attendance are Noah Lyles, the first man since Usain Bolt to sweep the 100m and 200m world titles, along with 100m world champion Sha’Carri Richardson of the US, 400mH world record holder Karsten Warholm of Norway, 200m champ Shericka Jackson of Jamaica, 1500m gold medalist Josh Kerr of Great Britain, and pole vault world record holder Mondo Duplantis of Sweden. 

The main event in Zurich will be the 200m featuring Lyles, the American record-holder who became just the fourth man to ever win the 4x100m as well as the two sprints at Worlds, joining Bolt, Tyson Gay and Maurice Greene.

Lyles will be challenged by American stars Erriyon Knighton and Kenny Bednarek, with Knighton coming off his second straight global medal and his highest finish on the world stage in his young yet decorated career. 100m medalist Zharnel Hughes of Great Britain and Tokyo Olympic champ Andre de Grasse of Canada will also make up two lanes in what will surely be an entertaining race. A potential obstacle to fast times could be the expected chilly temperatures. 

"When I got off the plane yesterday and I did a shakeout, I thought, 'I feel better than I did getting ready for the 200m final,'” Lyles said at the pre-meet press conference. “I was feeling that 'pop', which I didn’t have there." 

Richardson and Jackson will be the stars of the women’s sprints, but unlike in Budapest where they raced head-to-head five times, they will not be squaring off here. Richardson is the favorite in the 100m, where she will face Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah in her first race since finishing fifth at the Jamaican National Championships.

Meanwhile, Jackson will be the favorite in the 200m where she will again face American Gabby Thomas, who finished in the silver medal position in Budapest. At the pre-meet press conference, Jackson indicated that she was feeling “a bit under the weather.”

"I don’t think tomorrow will be super-fast but I want to have some fun and see how it goes," she said.

In the 400mH, Warholm will square off again with 2022 world champion Alison Dos Santos of Brazil. Warholm enters the meet having run under 47 seconds on four different occasions since June 15. Dos Santos, who raced infrequently while recovering from injury before Worlds, clipped two hurdles on the backstretch in the final and settled for fifth. The field will also include Worlds silver medalist Kyron McMaster of the British Virgin Islands, Roshawn Clarke of Jamaica, and Trevor Bassitt of the U.S. 

Josh Kerr with the kick that shocked Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and frankly everyone watching 😨 #WorldAthleticChamps
pic.twitter.com/vWO9GZaGVO

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) August 23, 2023

Just eight days after hand-delivering Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigsten his first loss in his chief discipline this year, Kerr and nine additional 1500m finalists are toeing the line in Zurich. Along with Kerr, seven men in the field have dipped below 3:30 this season, including Spaniard Mo Katir, and American Yared Nuguse.

In the men’s pole vault, all four medallists will return to the runway. Leading the way will be Duplantis, who easily won gold before missing three solid attempts at a new world record in Budapest. He will square off against Ernest Obiena, the first athlete from the Philippines to win a World Championships medal, and bronze medallists Chris Nilsen of the U.S. and Kurtis Marschall of Australia

"It’s tough coming off a World Championships – we have never had Zurich right after World Championships before – but it could be a very good thing," Duplantis said at the press conference. "This is the most intense meet of the year that’s not a championship meet, so once we step on the track and feel that crowd, we have to lock in. The people who didn’t win in Budapest still have a lot of hunger, so I like that it’s here. This is not a joke, this is probably the most historic competition ever, so we need to wake up."

With just three days of recovery in his legs after missing out on a medal by a quarter of a second, Luis Grijalva of Guatemala is aiming for a quick time, and will have the field and conditions to do just that. A trio of Ethiopians, made up of Selemon Barega, Yomif Kejelcha and Lamecha Girma will keep the pace honest. 

Barega is coming off another global medal in the 10,000m, while Kejelcha is looking to avenge his fifth-place finish in the Worlds 5000m final. The favorite, however, will be the  22-year-old sensation Girma, who is making his debut in the event after a summer that has seen him break the 3000m steeplechase world record, along with winning a Worlds silver medal. 

Americans Woody Kincaid and Grant Fisher both have something to prove in their own right, with Kincaid coming off of his highest finish in a global final of his career, but wanting a fast time and a statement race to cap his season. For Fisher, who hasn’t raced since early July, he’s looking to make the most of his fitness and move past his nagging stress injury.

Other Budapest gold medalists looking to keep momentum in their favor include: 

    •    Yulimar Rojas – Women’s Triple Jump


    •    Gianmarco Tamberi – Men’s High Jump


    •    Mutile Winfred Yavi – Women’s 3000m Steeplechase


    •    Miltiadis Tentoglou – Men’s Long Jump


    •    Neeraj Chopra – Men’s Javelin


    •    Danielle Williams – Women’s 100mH