Athletics fans in Zurich experienced an unforgettable night of sports history on Thursday, as two new world records were broken during a thrilling Diamond League meeting at Letzigrund Stadium.
In front of a sold-out crowd of 25,000 spectators, Brazil's Alison Dos Santos set the first record of the evening in the men's 400-meter hurdles. He clocked an astonishing time of 45.80 seconds, breaking the previous record of 45.94 seconds set by Norway's Karsten Warholm at the Tokyo Olympics. Warholm finished second in the race.
Shortly after, Olympic champion Masai Russell of the United States smashed the world record in the women's 100-meter hurdles. Russell finished in 12.09 seconds, beating Nigerian athlete Tobi Amusan's 2022 mark of 12.12 seconds. Both Dos Santos and Russell received $80,000 prize checks for their historic achievements.
The excitement continued in the men's pole vault, where double Olympic champion Mondo Duplantis of Sweden took victory by clearing 6.25 meters. Greek vaulter Emmanouil Karalis put intense pressure on Duplantis by clearing a personal best of 6.20 meters. It marked the first time in history that two vaulters crossed the 6.20-meter mark in the same event.
Local fans had even more to celebrate in the women's 800 meters. Swiss runner Audrey Werro won the race with a time of 1:53.70—the third-fastest time ever recorded in the event. Meanwhile, Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi held off Algeria's Djamel Sedjati by just 0.07 seconds to win the men's 800 meters in 1:41.76.