Week after week, more athletes are announced for the Weltklasse Zürich Diamond League meeting on Aug. 27, and Friday’s additions were headlined by Norway’s two-time Olympic gold medallist Jakob Ingebrigtsen. As he continues his comeback from injury, Ingebrigtsen will test his fitness against one of the deepest 1,500m fields assembled this season.
The race promises plenty of excitement, but so do the men’s and women’s 800m events, which feature a collection of world leaders and Olympic medallists, including Canada’s Marco Arop and Switzerland’s Audrey Werro.
1,500m is loaded
Ingebrigtsen announced his return to competition in July, for the 2026 European Athletics Championships, which run from Aug. 10 to 16. Zürich will mark his first Diamond League appearance of the season, where he will line up against one of the fastest fields assembled this year.
Reigning 1,500m world champion Isaac Nader of Portugal and Olympic champion Cole Hocker of the U.S. were also announced on Friday. They will join previously confirmed athletes, including Olympic silver medallist Yared Nuguse of the U.S and the young star Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech of Kenya, who set the 1,500m world U20 record to 3:27.72 in 2025.
Every listed 1,500m athlete (aside from Ingebrigtsen, who has not yet competed this year) has recorded a time ranked inside the top 15 globally this season.
Cole Hocker of Team USA takes gold in the men’s 1,500m at Paris 2024. Photo: Kevin Morris
Werro and the women’s world record
Werro has been threatening the women’s 800m world record all season. Her breakthrough came at the Stockholm Diamond League meet, where she ran 1:53.98; the first time a woman had dipped under 1:54 since 1983. Werro remains undefeated in every race she has contested this year, and ran an even faster time at the Paris Diamond League meet, clocking 1:53.80.
Standing in Werro’s way will be some of the world’s best 800m runners including, reigning world champion Lilian Odira of Kenya and 2025 Tokyo World Championships silver medallist Great Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell. In their Commonwealth Games 800m matchup on July 31, Hunter Bell was able to take the win and end a 28-year African dynasty.
Lilian Odira of Kenya wins the women’s 800m final at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Photo: Nick Iwanyshyn
The field is rounded out by Femke Broeders-Bol of the Netherlands, who continues her 800m journey and will be tested against a group of women who may push WR pace.
A men’s WR too?
The men’s 800m field is led by Arop, who set the world lead at 1:41.84 in June at the Paris Diamond League meeting. Following the performance, he told Wanda Diamond League that he may attempt a world record later in the season. Just two weeks later, he ran a 1:42.13 at the Edmonton Athletics Invitational to win by more than two seconds and record the fastest 800m ever on Canadian soil. After a slower start to the season, the Canadian appears to be finding his form at the right time and will have a world-class field in Zürich, with all sights set on the clock.
Marco Arop at 800m for 2025 Miami GST Photo: Kevin Morris
Joining him are Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya and 2025 world silver medallist Djamel Sedjati of Algeria. Wanyonyi has defeated Arop once this season, while Sedjati has had a quieter year so far. With the three athletes regularly battling for podium positions, the men’s 800m promises to be one of the most anticipated races of the meeting.