Weltklasse Zürich


Weltklasse Zürich 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 and 2022, Weltklasse Zürich served as the sole final of the Diamond League, and this is also planned for 2025 and 2027. So far, 27 world records have been set at Weltklasse Zürich. In 1988, Carl Lewis won the 100-meter duel against Ben Johnson. The time of 9.93 seconds was upgraded to a world record a year later, following Johnson’s doping case.
One of the first large-scale international athletics events, it is sometimes referred to as the one-day Olympics. With a budget of about ten million Swiss francs, Weltklasse Zürich ranks among the most expensive events in athletics. Every year, it draws around 25,000 fans to Letzigrund Stadium, with competitions broadcast in up to 135 countries. Since 2014, Christoph Joho and Andreas Hediger have led the organization as co-directors.
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.
UBS has supported Weltklasse Zürich as its main sponsor since 1981. Other sponsors are Vaudoise Assurances, Migros, Le Gruyère Switzerland, Medica, Omega, Swiss, Lexus, Erdgas and Puma.

History

The meeting was conceived in 1924 by the athletic section of the FC Zürich which became the Leichtathletik Club Zürich in 1934, and was first held at the Letzigrund on a dirt track on 12 August 1928 as the Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting in Zürich.
Since 1935 it also became known as the "American Meeting", similar to the Bislett Games, and this continued into the 1950s.
A notable hiatus occurred after the 1952 meeting until the rebuilt Letzigrund Stadium opened in 1958, although a meeting had still been planned for August 1954.
The name "Weltklasse Zürich" was adopted in 1959.
The meet would not be held regularly on an annual basis until 1973, and the Weltklasse introduced electronic timing the following year.
During 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic prevented Weltklasse Zürich from taking place, instead an event called Inspiration Games was held.

Track surface

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 two years for the construction to take place.
The current surface at the Letzigrund Stadium was developed in 2014 by the Swiss company CONICA. 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.

Editions

Some of the earliest editions were bilateral matches that are not counted among the 29 "Internationales" and Weltklasse meetings organized from 1928 til 1977.
MeetingSeriesDate
1928 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting12 Aug 1928
1929 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting13 Aug 1929
1932 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting3 Sep 1932
1934 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting12 Aug 1934
1935 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting8 Aug 1935
1937 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting29 Aug 1937
1939 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting13 Aug 1939
1946 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting18 Jul 1946
1947 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting5 July 1947
1948 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting21 Aug 1948
1949 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting21 Aug 1949
1951 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting19 Jun 1951
1951 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting28 Jul 1951
1952 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting12 Aug 1952
1958 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting1 Jul 1958
1958 Internationales Leichtathletik-Meeting17 Jul 1958
1959 Weltklasse Zürich7 Jul 1959
1960 Weltklasse Zürich21 Jun 1960
1961 Weltklasse Zürich27 Jun 1961
1962 Weltklasse Zürich10 Jul 1962
1963 Weltklasse Zürich2 Jul 1963
1964 Weltklasse Zürich23 Jun 1964
1965 Weltklasse Zürich29 Jun 1965
1966 Weltklasse Zürich30 Jun 1966
1967 Weltklasse Zürich4 Jul 1967
1968 Weltklasse Zürich2 Jul 1968
1969 Weltklasse Zürich4 Jul 1969
1970 Weltklasse Zürich3 Jul 1970
1973 Weltklasse Zürich6 Jul 1973
1974 Weltklasse Zürich16 Aug 1974
1975 Weltklasse Zürich20 Aug 1975
1976 Weltklasse Zürich18 Aug 1976
1977 Weltklasse Zürich24 Aug 1977
1978 Weltklasse Zürich16 Aug 1978
1979 Weltklasse Zürich15 Aug 1979
1980 Weltklasse Zürich13 Aug 1980
1981 Weltklasse Zürich19 Aug 1981
1982 Weltklasse Zürich18 Aug 1982
1983 Weltklasse Zürich24 Aug 1983
1984 Weltklasse Zürich22 Aug 1984
1985 Weltklasse Zürich1985 IAAF Grand Prix21 Aug 1985
1986 Weltklasse Zürich1986 IAAF Grand Prix13 Aug 1986
1987 Weltklasse Zürich1987 IAAF Grand Prix19 Aug 1987
1988 Weltklasse Zürich1988 IAAF Grand Prix17 Aug 1988
1989 Weltklasse Zürich1989 IAAF Grand Prix16 Aug 1989
1990 Weltklasse Zürich1990 IAAF Grand Prix15 Aug 1990
1991 Weltklasse Zürich1991 IAAF Grand Prix7 Aug 1991
1992 Weltklasse Zürich1992 IAAF Grand Prix19 Aug 1992
1993 Weltklasse Zürich1993 IAAF Grand Prix4 Aug 1993
1994 Weltklasse Zürich1994 IAAF Grand Prix17 Aug 1994
1995 Weltklasse Zürich1995 IAAF Grand Prix16 Aug 1995
1996 Weltklasse Zürich1996 IAAF Grand Prix14 Aug 1996
1997 Weltklasse Zürich1997 IAAF Grand Prix13 Aug 1997
1998 Weltklasse Zürich1998 IAAF Golden League12 Aug 1998
1999 Weltklasse Zürich1999 IAAF Golden League11 Aug 1999
2000 Weltklasse Zürich2000 IAAF Golden League11 Aug 2000
2001 Weltklasse Zürich2001 IAAF Golden League17 Aug 2001
2002 Weltklasse Zürich2002 IAAF Golden League16 Aug 2002
2003 Weltklasse Zürich2003 IAAF Golden League15 Aug 2003
2004 Weltklasse Zürich2004 IAAF Golden League6 Aug 2004
2005 Weltklasse Zürich2005 IAAF Golden League19 Aug 2005
2006 Weltklasse Zürich2006 IAAF Golden League18 Aug 2006
2007 Weltklasse Zürich2007 IAAF Golden League7 Sep 2007
2008 Weltklasse Zürich2008 IAAF Golden League29 Aug 2008
2009 Weltklasse Zürich2009 IAAF Golden League28 Aug 2009
2010 Weltklasse Zürich2010 Diamond League18-19 Aug 2010
2011 Weltklasse Zürich2011 Diamond League7-8 Sep 2011
2012 Weltklasse Zürich2012 Diamond League29-30 Aug 2012
2013 Weltklasse Zürich2013 Diamond League28-29 Aug 2013
2014 Weltklasse Zürich2014 Diamond League28 Aug 2014
2015 Weltklasse Zürich2015 Diamond League2-3 Sep 2015
2016 Weltklasse Zürich2016 Diamond League31 Aug, 1 Sep 2016
2017 Weltklasse Zürich2017 Diamond League23-24 Aug 2017
2018 Weltklasse Zürich2018 Diamond League29-30 Aug 2018
2019 Weltklasse Zürich2019 Diamond League28-29 Aug 2019
2020 Inspiration Games2020 Diamond League9 Jul 2020
2021 Weltklasse Zürich2021 Diamond League8-9 Sep 2021
2022 Weltklasse Zürich2022 Diamond League7-8 Sep 2022
2023 Weltklasse Zürich2023 Diamond League30-31 Aug 2023
2024 Weltklasse Zürich2024 Diamond League4-5 Sep 2024
2025 Weltklasse Zürich2025 Diamond League27-27 Aug 2025