Zeroing In On Zurich ⏱️

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Compiled by David Melly and Paul Snyder

It’s The (DL) Final Countdown 🎵

Cramming in the Diamond League final before the September World Championship has had two important positive effects: it ensures that the weeks between national championships and Worlds are packed with strong international racing, and it transforms the final itself from an afterthought to a springboard into the championship. Then there’s the format (five field events taking place later today, then the rest of the events stuffed into tomorrow’s window), which virtually ensures a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pace of straight final action.

If you’re an U.S.-based track fan, there are likely five main events you’re looking at: the women’s 200m and 100m hurdles and the men’s 400m, 800m, and 1500m. Why? Because those are the events where Americans have a legitimate shot at expanding the roster from three athletes to four via Diamond League wild card.

Actually, scratch that. Team USA jingoists are likely also going to be closely marking the women’s 100m for slightly sadistic reasons: Julien Alfred is returning to the Diamond League circuit after skipping out on Silesia and Lausanne with injury concerns. If your primary interest is getting Melissa Jefferson-Wooden and/or Sha’Carri Richardson and/or Kayla White and/or Aleia Hobbs atop the podium, you want to see one of two things: either Alfred, the Olympics champ, looking vulnerable in her return to racing; or Alfred looking great and denying Tia Clayton, who’s run 10.82 this season but missed out on the Jamaican team, a second chance at Worlds.

Now let’s go back to the events where Americans will be rooting for, rather than against, people. The 100m hurdles features three of the top five finishers from USAs taking on world record holder Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, reigning World champion Danielle Williams of Jamaica, and Prefontaine winner Ackera Nugent. But despite their strong credentials, the Americans are in a good spot – Grace Stark is the fastest entrant in the field, and if she or Keni Harrison, the fourth-placer at USAs, wins then Harrison will be added to the U.S. roster for Worlds. But it’s also entirely possible that Tonea Marshall, the fifth placer from USAs, snags the wild card instead coming off a 12.24 PB in Silesia, where she beat five of the women in this field including Harrison.

In the 200m, two different outcomes would lead to Paris bronze medalist Brittany Brown getting the fourth spot on Team USA. If Brown wins the final outright, she’s going. If Anavia Battle, who finished second at USAs, wins instead, Brown is still going as she finished fourth at nationals. But if McKenzie Long—who finished fifth at USAs—or Jenna Prandini beats them both, the victor will leapfrog Brown and get the spot instead. All are realistic possibilities, especially a Battle victory, as she’s been crushing it on the DL circuit all season. And in cool, potentially rainy conditions, sprint results tend to be more unpredictable.

Vernon Norwood fans (Vernals? North Stars? Woodies? We’re taking suggestions.) are likely pleased to see last week’s results, where Norwood and U.S. champ Jacory Patterson finished top two in Brussels and Patterson especially looked strong. If Norwood, Patterson, or USAs runner-up Chris Bailey, who together represent three of the eight lanes, wins in Zurich, Norwood gets to compete in the open 400m in Tokyo in addition to his typical relay duty. Olympic bronze medalist Muzala Samukonga and a pair of Motswana men will do their best to take on the Americans, but with world leader Zakithi Nene of South Africa and the top two finishers from the Olympics absent, things are looking promising for the “Normies.”

Josh Hoey once again takes on the big dogs in the men’s 800m, and he’s coming off a win in Lausanne where he beat six of the eight men lining up next to him just last week. Olympic champ Emmanuel Wanyonyi is 2-1 against Hoey this year, but Hoey is 2-1 against World champ Marco Arop. Hoey is only one for four in Diamond League 800ms this season, but he’s won most recently. He’s the World Indoor champ, but only finished fourth at USAs. Basically, there are as many reasons to predict Hoey for the win as not, so it honestly feels like a coin toss (if it’s somehow a three-sided coin).

And of course there’s the 1500m. This race will be one to watch for a few reasons, not the least of which being the ongoing jockeying for favorite status in Tokyo (more on that below). With neither the reigning Olympic or World champ qualified, the DL final represents an opportunity for someone else to cement his place as a true contender for gold. And for Yared Nuguse, the Olympic bronze medalist who only finished fifth at USAs, it’s one last chance to get back to Worlds. Despite his underperformance at the U.S. champs, Nuguse still has to be considered a contender for a medal should he succeed in qualifying. But surely the Kenyans also want the opportunity to send four athletes to Worlds, and with Timothy Cheruiyot, Phanuel Koech, and Reynold Cheruiyot all in the final, they have more chances than just Nuguse.

In the long jump, the absence of Tara Davis-Woodhall means the U.S.’s odds of sending four leapers to Tokyo are a bit lower. But if Claire Bryant can defeat three European 7-meter jumpers led by three-time global champ Malaika Mihambo, fourth-placer Alyssa Jones gets to go to Tokyo, since Bryant finished second at USAs. Monae’ Nichols is also in the field, and if she pulls off a surprise victory, she’ll be the fourth jumper alongside Davis-Woodhall, Bryant, and Quanesha Burks.

But the Diamond League final isn’t just a battle for bonus spots. Noah Lyles, already the reigning World champ, is making an appearance in the 200m final thanks to a wild-card entry. He’ll get another shot at Olympic champ Letsile Tebogo after their rematch earlier this summer in Monaco. That time, Lyles got the better of Tebogo 19.88 to 19.97. It’ll be interesting to see what Tebogo’s break from racing since July 19th has done, as rumors swirled earlier in the summer that he wasn’t fully healthy.

The women’s 1500m, which doesn’t feature world record holder Faith Kipyegon or Brussels winner Nikki Hiltz, will instead offer up an intriguing preview of who could realistically contend for a medal behind Kipyegon in Tokyo. Olympic silver medalist Jessica Hull comes in with the fastest personal and season’s bests, but if she falls to someone like Nelly Chepchirchir or Birke Haylom, that would arguably make them just as much a medal threat as anyone else. For Americans Sinclaire Johnson and Heather MacLean, it’ll be a shot at redemption from an underwhelming Brussels—particularly for Johnson, who got knocked to the track midway through the race. While it would be a surprise to see either of them emerge victorious, that would be great news for MacLean, the fourth-placer from USAs who would then get a spot on the plane alongside Johnson.

The two biggest locks in the whole meet are the leaders in the men’s and women’s 400m hurdles, Karsten Warholm and Femke Bol. Without their primary rivals entered (the women’s race actually features zero Americans), the only question will be over the size of their margins of victory. In Warholm’s case, it’ll also give him the chance to cement the idea that he’s the guy to beat, not Rai Benjamin, if he can again improve on his Diamond League record of 46.28.

We’ll be on world record watch in the men’s pole vault as usual thanks to Mondo Duplantis, plus you never quite know when the right combination of factors will cause the stars to align in the men’s 800m. The lengthy program had to produce cuts somewhere, and in this instance it’s the last 2ks of the men’s and women’s distance finals, which will only be contested over 3000m this time around. A Grant Fisher or Graham Blanks victory on the men’s side would open the door for Cooper Teare to be added to Team USA (as 5000m fourth-placer Drew Hunter is not in the rankings quota), and given that only one of the six men to win a DL 5000m this year is entered, it’s certainly not out of the question.

Sure, this might be a long one (the main program is 3.5 hours compared with the usual 2), but it’ll be worth every minute as every single event is stacked and the results here could trigger even more fireworks in a few short weeks.

Is Niels Laros The… Favorite(?!) For 1500m Gold? 🥇

Niels Laros, really? Sure, he’s good, but not that good.

Hear us out for a moment. The 20-year-old Dutchman may have the 15th best personal best in the [likely] World field, and he’s not even the fastest guy from the Netherlands this year thanks to Stefan Nillessen’s 3:29.23 run in Paris, but after Laros won his second Diamond League meet of the year last week in Brussels, it’s worth a closer look before you write this headline off as clickbait.

Laros started the year by beating the likes of Biniam Mehary and Getnet Wale in an indoor 3000m, running 7:29.49. He didn’t have a perfect indoor season, only finishing 11th at Euro Indoors, but his first DL of 2025 was a surprise come-from-behind victory at the Bowerman mile, hawking down Yared Nuguse with that epic kick. Counting Brussels, he’s now won his last five races in a row, including double victories in the 800m and 5000m at the European U23 championships (which included a 1:44.19 800m PB in the heats—faster than Nuguse or Cole Hocker have ever run). Laros was cagey about his intentions for Tokyo given that he’s now qualified in three events, but he’d be crazy not to prioritize the 1500m.

It’s not just that he won in Brussels. He also beat Nuguse and Phanuel Koech in a championship-style close to run 3:30.58, splitting 53.4 for his last 400m and 25.5 for his last 200m. Unlike in Eugene, when he had to come from a long way back to track down Nuguse, Laros executed this one perfectly, sitting in Koech’s pocket up front out of trouble until the final 150m. Koech is another guy who can contend for the win in Tokyo—his five career 1500ms, all run this year, have included three wins, two runner-up finishes, and a world junior record—and Laros handily dispatched him.

Laros, Nuguse, and Koech are three guys who could conceivably win gold in Tokyo… but what’s everyone else up to? Laros finished sixth at the Olympics last summer, so let’s start with the five guys who beat him: Hocker, Josh Kerr, Nuguse, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and Hobbs Kessler. For  starters, Kessler and Nuguse won’t be in Tokyo unless something changes in the Diamond League final. Ingebrigtsen is certainly capable of winning gold at his very best, but the title has famously eluded him since his 2021 Olympic gold, and just-as-famously, he’s working his way back from injury and hasn’t yet raced outdoors. That leaves Hocker and Kerr. Both men should also rightfully be considered contenders for gold, but Hocker was a well-beaten third at his own national championship. That being said, no one in the world peaks better than Cole Hocker, so the Olympic champ can’t be written off, but we also don’t have much data as Hocker hasn’t raced since USAs.

Josh Kerr is a similarly mysterious case—perhaps deliberately. The reigning World champ won two of his three Slams earlier this spring, defeating Hocker and Nuguse, but he lost to Koech on his home turf at the London Diamond League, so by transitive property, he’s not out of reach for Laros. But Kerr only raced once since then, a dominant 5000m victory at the UK champs, so he’s keeping his late-summer cards close to the chest.

The other three runners worth mentioning are Narve Nordas, who finished one spot behind Laros in Paris, 2025 world leader Azeddine Habz, and U.S. champ Jonah Koech. Nordas also won a 1500m in 3:30 last week in Berlin, but he hasn’t fared as well on larger stages this season, finishing no higher than third in four DL appearances and getting beaten in kicker’s race by countryman Hakon Berg in the 1500m at his national championship. Habz finished third behind Laros and Nuguse at Pre and has only raced once—at the French championships—since then. Koech was battling an injury before USAs and also hasn’t raced since.

So basically, Laros may not (yet) have shown the highest ceiling of anyone on the starting line, but right now he has the highest floor. Just as importantly, he’s demonstrated he’s running the best of anyone in the mix right now, 18 days out from the first round of racing. If you’re basing your personal odds on resumes alone, Laros isn’t your guy. If you’re betting on potential, Laros is very likely entering his prime after finishing 10th at Worlds as an 18 year old and 6th at the Olympics as a 19 year old. And if you’re looking at recent results, Laros has as strong a claim as anyone on favorite status heading into Tokyo.

The Case For—And Against—The Mile Steeplechase 🏇

If you tuned into Brussels midway through the program last week, you may have wondered: “Why’d they stop halfway through the steeplechase?”

That’s because World Athletics and their star guinea pig, Olympic champ Winfred Yavi, were testing out a new event, the steeplechase mile, to gauge its viability for inclusion (replacement?) in future championships. Yavi went out quickly into uncharted territory, hitting 800 meters in 2:13.3 and coming back to run 4:40.13, a time that meet organizers brazenly called a “world record” even though it won’t be officially considered a real event until next year. It’s also worth noting that Yavi’s time works out to roughly the same pace (69-high for 400m) as Yavi’s PB over 3000m, nearly twice the distance, so the mark certainly will fall more as runners of Yavi’s caliber get accustomed to the event.

The reviews on the Internet and in the group chat were mixed. On one hand, it’s a bit of an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” as the steeplechase is hardly one of the longer distance events and is full of entertaining moments. On the other, WA deserves some credit for actively working to improve its product, even if some of its solutions are loony.

As you noodle on the place, or lack thereof, for the steeplechase mile in professional track and field, it’s only fair that we present both sides of the argument and let you decide for yourselves.

Pros: A shorter steeplechase presents more of an opportunity for two things fans love: unexpected carnage, and tactical brilliance. In an event that’s supposed to require both fitness and technique, the steeplechase on the global level, especially on the women’s side, can often still result into the strongest runner with garbage form simply running away from the pack. Everyone loves a championship 1500m, and adding barriers into the mix would only improve the odds of an upset or a dramatic finish. Plus, hurdling at higher speeds requires better form, and would either cause athletes to improve their technique closer to that of a 400m hurdler or create all sorts of entertaining chaos.

Cons: The 3000-meter distance already balances the need for strength, speed, and finesse, and especially in championship settings, the longer distance creates more opportunities for athletes to pick their attack strategy. A mile would likely be reduced to a footrace from the gun or a blistering last lap, but in a 3000m, steeplers often make their moves with 1km to go, two laps (the ol’ Kenneth Rooks approach), or down the last backstretch. And different styles of runners pressing at different times keeps the back half of a steeple far more engaging than, say a 5000m. Plus, the steeplechase distance landing in between the 1500m and the 5000m entices all kinds of runners to give it a shot, rather than simply directing the guy who keeps getting fourth in his nation’s 1500m trials to take up the hurdles.

The verdict is… up to you. But in our minds, the Brussels event failed to prove any argument conclusively. Perhaps that does necessitate a larger sample size or steeplechase miles at future pro meets, but for the good of the sport, it’d be better to view those events as additive, rather than replacing the 3000m steeple, before any final championship-level decision is made.

More News From The Track And Field World 📰

– The Foot Locker Cross Country Championships, some iteration of which has existed since 1979, are no more. That’s a major blow to nostalgia, but perhaps good news to those hoping to entice the best high school harriers to a single national championship.

– The marathon course for Worlds in Tokyo has been revealed. Looks like the first and final 5km sections will have some hills, the middle ought to be pretty flat, and the race will end at the National Stadium, which is exactly what you want to see for a race like this.

– It’s unfortunately the time of year when we hear who’s not running Worlds in addition to who squeaks in. This year’s black-and-white-photo-posters include Olympic decathlon champ Marcus Rooth, World Indoor medalist Lachlan Kennedy, Olympic silver medalist in the hurdles Cyrena Samba-Mayela, and Irish sprint star Rhasidat Adeleke. The latter caused some drama in the Irish sporting scene as Sonia O’Sullivan had some choice words that Adeleke’s coach, Edrick Floreal, later pushed back on.

– Cooper Lutkenhaus has signed a professional contract with Nike, presumably making him the only kid at Northwest High School who can share that fact when asked what they got up to this summer

– Georgia Hunter Bell has made the decision to go all-in on the 800m at Worlds. It’s like that old saying: “if you win an Olympic bronze medal in one event but you’re really good at a different distance, too, why not give that second event a go at a major global championship?” 

– Audrey Werro won the Swiss Championships 800m in 1:56.29, which raises some interesting questions. Why was the Swiss Championship held so much later than most others? And does this make Werro a medal favorite heading into Tokyo? We’ll get at least a partial answer on the second question tomorrow based on her performance in the DL final.

– Abby Steiner has shared that she’s now pursuing a master’s degree at the University of South Carolina, and is “taking a step back from running” after undergoing a third surgery for Achilles issues earlier this year.

– As part of his build up for the Chicago Marathon, Jacob Kiplimo won the 21K de Buenos Aires (that’s the “Buenos Aires Half Marathon” to you non-Spanish speakers) in 58:29.

– Barrier broken… sorta. Adidas held its version of a “Breaking 2” style event in the wee hours of the Italian morning on Tuesday, where South African ultra runner Sibusiso Kubheka won a three-man time trial and became the first person to run 100 kilometers in under six hours, clocking a 5:59:20 run (that’s 5:47/mile for 62 miles). The test event utilized giant 60-millimeter stack-height shoes, however, so it’s not an official world record. American Charlie Lawrence and Lithuanian Aleksandr Sorokin, the official WR holder, were the other two finishers.

– Apparently, Jakob Ingebrigtsen (with the support of Zurich meet organizers) wanted to run the Diamond League final, but RULES ARE RULES, and a rule stating that wild card entrants must’ve run at least one DL all season kept him off the entry list.

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