Weltklasse Zürich (English: World Class Zurich) is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it now serves as a final of the Wanda Diamond League, alongside Memorial Van Damme between 2010 and 2019. In 2021, Welklasse Zürich will serve as the sole final of the Diamond League.^[2] One of the first large-scale international athletics events (outside the Summer Olympics), it is sometimes referred to as the one-day Olympics. 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. On 21 June 1960, on the Letzigrund track, Armin Hary became the first human to run the 100 m dash in 10.0 seconds.

Quick Facts Date, Location ...

Weltklasse Zürich
The host stadium – Letzigrund
Date	August–September
Location	Zürich, Switzerland
Event type	Track and field
World Athletics Cat.	Diamond League final (DF)[1]
Established	1928
Official site	zurich.diamondleague.com
2024 Weltklasse Zürich

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UBS has supported Weltklasse Zürich as its main sponsor since 1981.^[3] Other sponsors are Vaudoise Assurances, Migros, Le Gruyère Switzerland, Medica, Omega, Swiss, Lexus, Erdgas and Puma.^[4]

The meeting was conceived in 1924 by athletic section of the FC Zürich which became 1934 the Leichtathletik Club Zürich and first held at the Letzigrund on a dirt track on 12 August 1928 as the Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting in Zürich.^[5][6] The meet would not be held regularly on an annual basis until 1973, and the Weltklasse introduced electronic timing the following year.^[5]

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 a few years for the construction to take place.^[5]

The current surface at the Letzigrund Stadium was developed in 2014 by the Swiss company CONICA.^[7][8][9] 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.^[10]

Over the course of its history, numerous world records have been set at Weltklasse Zürich.^[11]

More information Year, Event ...

Year	Event	Record	Athlete	Nationality
2009	Pole vault	5.06 m	Yelena Isinbayeva	Russia
2006	100 m	9.77 (+1.0 m/s)	Asafa Powell	Jamaica
1997	800 m	1:41.24	Wilson Kipketer	Denmark
1997	3000 m steeplechase	7:59.08	Wilson Boit Kipketer	Kenya
1997	5000 m	12:41.86	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia
1996	Mile	4:12.56	Svetlana Masterkova	Russia
1995	5000 m	12:44.39	Haile Gebrselassie	Ethiopia
1995	3000 m steeplechase	7:59.18	Moses Kiptanui	Kenya
1992	3000 m steeplechase	8:02.08	Moses Kiptanui	Kenya
1991	4 × 100 m relay	37.67	Michael Marsh Leroy Burrell Dennis Mitchell Carl Lewis	United States
1989	110 m hurdles	12.92 (−0.1 m/s)	Roger Kingdom	United States
1988	400 m	43.29	Harry ("Butch") Reynolds	United States
1985	Mile	4:16.71	Mary Slaney	United States
1984	100 m	10.76 (+1.7 m/s)	Evelyn Ashford	United States
1981	Mile	3:48.53	Sebastian Coe	United Kingdom
1981	110 m hurdles	12.93 (−0.2 m/s)	Renaldo Nehemiah	United States
1980	1500 m	3:52.47	Tatyana Kazankina	Soviet Union
1979	1500 m	3:32.1	Sebastian Coe	United Kingdom
1975	Discus throw	70.20 m	Faina Melnik	Soviet Union
1973	110 m hurdles	13.1	Rod Milburn	United States
1969	110 m hurdles	13.2	Willie Davenport	United States
1960	100 m	10.0	Armin Hary	West Germany
1959	200 m hurdles (bend)	22.5 (+1.2 m/s)	Martin Lauer	West Germany
1959	120 yd hurdles	13.2 (+1.9 m/s) / 13.56	Martin Lauer	West Germany
	110 m hurdles

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• Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern