2024 Zurich DL: Nuguse Wins Loaded 1500, Sha’Carri > Julien, Holloway Sets Record for Most Sub-13s

The Wanda Diamond League regular season concluded today at the Weltklasse Zürich track and field/athletics meeting at the Letzigrund. Below we share the highlights. Full results can be found here.

Yared Nuguse gets a huge Diamond League win

One year ago at the Diamond League final in Eugene, Yared Nuguse committed to following Jakob Ingebrigtsen early in the race and gave the Norwegian all he could handle, pushing him all the way to the finish line in a race where both men ran 3:43 for the mile. Tonight in Zurich, Nuguse applied the same strategy and this time he finished the job, passing Ingebrigtsen midway down the home straight to win the 1500 in 3:29.21 and defeat a field that included the top four finishes from the Olympics.  Ingebrigtsen ended up 2nd (3:29.52) with Olympic champ Cole Hocker third (3rd, 3:30.46) as 2023 world champ Josh Kerr  was just 5th (3:31.46).

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Nuguse won two Diamond Leagues last season, in London and Zurich, the latter over Kerr, but Ingebrigtsen did not feature in either of those races. Nuguse was 0-6 for his life against Ingebrigtsen until the Olympics but has now beaten the Norwegian twice in a row. Nuguse was upset in a road mile by Brit Elliot Giles in Dusseldorf on Sunday but that may have been due to some jet lag as he was traveling back to Europe from Boulder. He looked much stronger in the home straight tonight and said afterwards that his bronze at the Olympics has done wonders for his confidence. 

“Getting the medal at the Olympics just gave me more self-confidence in who I am and now I know what I can achieve,” Nuguse said. “I mean, nothing has really changed but the way how I feel about myself has changed. So definitely it is a positive thing.”

Nuguse ran well and should be commended for the win. But it must be noted that Ingebrigtsen was off his game. Ingebrigtsen said before the race he dealt with an infection and that some in his camp recommended that he not run in Zurich at all. Ingebrigtsen did run, but this did not look like the same guy who ran 3:27 in Lausanne or 7:17 in Silesia.

“My race was better than I expected it yesterday,” Ingebrigtsen said. “I still have not recovered. It was worth it to come here and race. But one more week of recovery would have been better for me and given me more stimulation.”

Ingebrigtsen’s final 300 tonight was only 41.3, the slowest he has run in a major 1500 this year (his final 300 from the mile at the Pre Classic was not available). Ingebrigtsen is great at following/setting a fast pace in Diamond Leagues and holding on during the last lap. Yet even though Giles was able to pace Ingebrigtsen through 1100m tonight, he was not able to gain any separation on Nuguse and lost in a sprint finish.

It was a clear difference from Lausanne two weeks ago, where he crushed Hocker and Hobbs Kessler over the final 200. In that race, Ingebrigtsen closed in 40.7 even though the pace (winning time of 3:27.83) was much faster than tonight, when Nuguse ran 3:29.21 to win. Ingebrigtsen’s previous slowest close this year was 40.9 for his final 300. Had he run that tonight, he would have beaten Nuguse.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s final 300m splits in 1500m races in 2024

Did this race change the global 1500m picture at all?

In 2022 and 2023, Jakob Ingebrigtsen went undefeated in Diamond League 1500/miles – a perfect nine for nine, and many of those races were not close. That has not been the case in 2024. Ingebrigtsen has still had some incredible performances in 2024, posting dominant victories in Monaco (3:26.73) and Lausanne (3:27.83), but he has been beaten twice (at Pre by Kerr and tonight by Nuguse) and Timothy Cheruiyot ran him very close in Oslo. Has the rest of the world caught up to him?

Yes and no. Ingebrigtsen is still the most consistent guy on the circuit and will start almost every DL 1500/mile as the favorite, including next week’s final in Brussels. A bad day for Ingebrigtsen is 2nd place – it’s been more than three years since he finished outside of the top two in a DL 1500/mile, and even then he was third in Monaco after being sick. Plus there are good reasons why Ingebrigtsen may not have been at his best in some of this races. In Oslo, he was racing five days after running a 3:45 mile half a world away at Pre. Tonight, he was coming off illness.

But the rest of the world has also been rising to the challenge Ingebrigtsen has set for them. We’ve seen it at the last three global championships and we saw it at Pre in May, where Ingebrigtsen ran very well and still lost to Josh Kerr. There are a lot of guys running at a high level at the moment and it is going to be fun to see them continue to push each other in 2025 and beyond.

We are curious to see how Ingebrigtsen rebounds. He blamed illness for his performance tonight, but he’s also at the end of a long season just like everybody else. Ingebrigtsen usually recovers very well, but it is fair to wonder whether running 3:27 and 7:17 in the leadup to this race took something out of him. 

We’ll see next week in the DL final in Brussels. Ingebrigtsen is entered in the 1500 only (the 5,000 is less than an hour before the 1500 on the same day, so the double is not feasible) and Ingebrigtsen told Norwegian media in Zurich that a world record attempt could be possible.

Beatrice Chebet came up short in her quest to break 14:00

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Beatrice Chebet’s bid to become the first woman to break 14:00 in the 5000 came up a little bit short tonight as the 24-year-old Kenyan slowed in the 4th kilometer and had to settle for a meeting record and world-leading time of 14:09.52.

Chebet was hoping to become the third different woman to break the 5000 world record in this event in the last 15 months as Faith Kipyegon ran 14:05.20 in June 2023 before Gudaf Tsegay lowered the record three months later to 14:00.21 at last year’s Diamond League final. Today’s 5,000 also came 103 days after Chebet made history by becoming the first woman to break 29:00 on the track in the 10,000 by running 28:54.14 in Eugene on May 25. In between, she won double 5,000 and 10,000 gold at the Olympics in Paris after winning her second straight World XC title in March.

Even though the record attempt came up short, it was nice for Chebet to be featured as the main performer tonight. Chebet was hardly unknown prior to this year, earning a silver medal in the 5,000 at the 2022 Worlds and a bronze in 2023 (as well as a win at 2023 World XC). But in the past, she’s been overshadowed by women like Faith Kipyegon, Gudaf Tsegay, Letesenbet Gidey, and Sifan Hassan, all of them global champions on the track and current/former world record holders. Even in her 10,000 world record in May, Chebet was given second billing as the race was hyped as Tsegay’s world record attempt. 

It will be interesting to see which woman ends up being the first to break 14:00. It can be argued that the 24-year-old Chebet has the most room for improvement given she was the youngest of the group by far (Gidey is 26, Tsegay 27, Kipyegon 30, and Hassan 31).

Grant Holloway runs record 12th sub-13 in 110 hurdles

After not reacting amazingly to the gun, Grant Holloway did what he so often does in the 110 hurdles – build a lead early in the race and hold on for the win. But when he crossed the finish line and saw 13.01 pop up on the scoreboard, he was visibly upset. He put his thumb and index finger about an inch apart, indicating he was “Oh so close.” Then when the time was adjusted down to 12.99, Holloway started celebrating, and for good reason – he’d just run under 13 seconds for the 12th time in his career, more than any human in history.

Most times under 13.00 in the 110m hurdles

This was Holloway’s fifth sub-13 of 2024. All eight of Aries Merritt’s sub-13s came in one year – 2012.

“The main thing for me was to run the most sub-13 and I did that so it is surreal,” Holloway said. “Nobody had ever done that many sub-13, ever. And now, I am on the top of that list so I am pleased…I follow the stats, I think that is what keeps me motivated. I have to keep that mindset that I still have something to achieve. It has been a great year and I want to thank my team that stands behind me.”

Sha’Carri Richardson beats Julien Alfred in Olympic 100 rematch

Sha’Carri RICHARDSON (USA)wins the Women’s 100m with a time of 10.84 at at Weltklasse Zurich, the Wanda Diamond League event in Zurich on 5 Sept 2024. Courtesy Diamond League AG

In one of the most anticipated races of the meet, an Olympic rematch between Sha’Carri Richardson and Julien Alfred, Brit Dina Asher-Smith surprisingly grabbed the early lead, catching a great start. Usually it is her training partner Alfred who starts best, but that was not the case tonight and Alfred ran into problems as Richardson was very close to her in the early stages and typically has the best closing speed.

Both women would eventually run down Asher-Smith, but Richardson closed fastest and took the win in 10.84, a quick time considering the conditions were not ideal for sprinting (63 degrees Fahrenheit, +0.1 wind).

We wonder how Richardson feels about her season. She beat Alfred convincingly at the Pre Classic in May and beat her again tonight in Zurich, but did not beat her when it really counted at the Olympics, where Richardson struggled with a poor start. Of course, Alfred ran way better in Paris than she did in either of those meets and would have been difficult to beat even if Richardson ran one of her best races.

Letsile Tebogo stays hot in 200

Letsile TEBOGO (BOT) wins the Men’s 200m with a time of 19.55 at Weltklasse Zurich, the Wanda Diamond League event in Zurich on 5 Sept 2024. Courtesy Diamond League AG

Olympic 200 champ Letsile Tebogo has been red-hot since the Olympics, picking up Diamond League wins in Lausanne, Silesia, and Rome, and he made it four from four with a thrilling 19.55 victory over Kenny Bednarek in the 200 in Zurich. Tebogo had to work for it as he ran a poor turn and was only 4th coming off the turn, but he was incredible in the final 100 and ran down Bednarek just before the line to get the win.

Times were very fast considering the cool, damp conditions (and considering Tebogo’s poor start). Bednarek’s 19.57 was actually a personal best and made him just the fifth man to break 19.60 more than once, joining Tebogo, Noah Lyles, Usain Bolt, and Yohan Blake.

Mary Moraa dominated the women’s 800 as Addy Wiley notched her best-ever Diamond League finish

Olympic bronze medalist Mary Moraa of Kenya picked up her third post-Olympic win, claiming the 800 tonight in dominant fashion after a win in Lausanne on August 22 and a 600m world record of 1:21.63 in Berlin on Sunday. Moraa had to come from behind as Olympic 4th placer Shafiqua Maloney took this one out hard in 56.0 and 20-year-old American Addy Wiley ran aggressively and passed Moraa into 2nd at the bell, which both Wiley and Moraa hit in 56.9.

But Moraa moved to the lead just before 200 to go and won in dominating fashion in 1:57.08. Moraa only closed in 30.2 but she won by nearly a full second as fellow Olympic bronze medalist Georgia Bell of Great Britain, went from 6th at 600 to 2nd (1:57.94)  thanks to a 30.4 close.

Though Wiley ran slower tonight (1:58.16) than she did in her last 800 in Poland last week (1:56.83), she beat Brit Jemma Reekie (1:55 pb) and finished 3rd overall, a strong result and the best Diamond League finish of her young career.

Karsten Warholm did not race due to a hamstring injury he picked up in his 100m race versus Mondo Duplantis yesterday

Warholm addressed the crowd a few minutes before the start to let everyone know that unfortunately he wouldn’t be able to race (he did so wearing a Swedish jersey, his punishment for losing to Duplantis in the 100). In his absence, Jamaican Roshawn Clarke got the win in a seasonal bet 47.49 as Alison dos Santos of Brazil was a DNF.

Speaking of Duplantis, he seemed to have some fatigue from yesterday’s 100m race as well. He got the win in the pole vault with a 5.82 clearance but didn’t even take his third attempt at 6.02 once it was clear he would win on misses over Sam Kendricks. It was the first time all year outdoors that Mondo didn’t clear at least 6.00 as he’d done it in all eight of his other outdoor competitions this year. Admittedly, with a wet runway, the conditions were far from ideal for vaulting.

Talk about the action on the world-famous Letsrun messageboard:

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• Zürich DL Live Thread + Live Reaction show at 4 pm ET 
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• Josh Kerr beat by a teenage in Zurich Diamond League 
• Ducos of France Hooks 3 Hurdles in a Row. Why No DQ?
  Yared NUGUSE (USA) wins the Men’s 1500m with a time of 3:29.21 at at Weltklasse Zurich, the Wanda Diamond League event in Zurich on 5 Sept 2024
  Courtesy Diamond League AG