![\"Switzerlands](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Werro_Audrey-Q-Tokyo25-1024x768.jpg\")
Switzerland\u2019s Audrey Werro at the 2025 Tokyo World Championships. Photo: Kevin Morris
\nThe best of the best<\/p>\n
Hodgkinson and Werro have already faced each other twice outdoors this year, with Werro winning both races and Hodgkinson finishing second. Their third matchup is shaping up to be another exciting showdown. While the two headline the field, the rest of the start list is equally impressive, and Hodgkinson said she couldn\u2019t resist the opportunity to race against the world\u2019s best.<\/p>\n
\u201cI signed myself up for Zurich because I knew every\u00adone was in it but me,\u201d Hodgkinson told the BBC<\/a>. \u201cI want to be in with the best, and I think that\u2019s going to bring out the best in me. There\u2019s no point in me going to a race and time-tri\u00adal\u00adling at the front. The more fun is when you\u2019ve got every\u00adone together, every\u00adone\u2019s going at it, and you don\u2019t know which way it\u2019s going to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Hodgkinson\u2019s training partner,\u00a0Georgia Hunter Bell<\/a> of Great Britain, will also compete after winning the women\u2019s 1,500m at the European Championships on Sunday in 4:07.78. Joining her is Dutch star Femke Broeders-Bol, the European 800m bronze medallist who continues to make a name for herself at the distance. Reigning world champion<\/a> Lilian Odira of Kenya is also expected to line up. She defeated Hodgkinson at the Prefontaine Classic, although Hodgkinson had suffered a hard fall earlier that week<\/a>, which it was speculated may have affected her performance.<\/p>\n All five runners have posted strong performances this season, and with a collection of major championship medals, world leads and near-WR performances among them, the race is shaping up to be one of the most highly anticipated events of the meeting.<\/p>\n Even more star power<\/p>\n The women\u2019s 800 metres isn\u2019t the only event bringing together some of the world\u2019s best. The men\u2019s 800 and 1,500 metres<\/a> are also expected to feature deep fields, while the hurdles events are loaded with star power.<\/p>\n Reigning world champion Ditaji Kambundji\u00a0of Switzerland is the latest addition to the women\u2019s 100m hurdles, and although she has had a quieter outdoor season, she will be a contender in a stacked field.<\/p>\n Among those she will face is American Olympic champion Masai Russell, who is undefeated this season and posted the second-fastest time ever at the Shanghai Diamond League in May, clocking 12.14<\/a>. Only Nigerian star Tobi\u00a0Amusan\u2019s WR time of 12.12 (set in 2022) is faster, and she will also be in attendance. Three-time world indoor 60-metre hurdles champion Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas will also line up. Charlton won her third consecutive world indoor title in March and equalled her own world record<\/a> of 7.65 in the process.<\/p>\n Weltklasse Z\u00fcrich takes place on Aug. 27 at Letzigrund Stadium. The final start list has not yet been confirmed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Weltklasse Z\u00fcrich Diamond League meeting on Aug. 27 has once again added one of the world\u2019s best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116589,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[5277,46860,5420,5416,5419,6223,5280,51],"class_list":["post-116588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-zurich","tag-800m","tag-audrey-werro","tag-diamond-league","tag-keely-hodgkinson","tag-masai-russell","tag-running-news","tag-weltklasse-zurich","tag-zurich"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117112579458157940","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116588\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"women's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786996033_766_04caf5e0-ba03-43c0-b07a-9d39329efe40-e1758453631571-1024x576.jpg\")
Lilian Odira of Kenya wins the women\u2019s 800m final at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Photo: Nick Iwanyshyn<\/p>\n![\"Mariam](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Russell_Masai-Q-Glasgow24-1024x683.jpg\")
Canada\u2019s Mariam Abdul-Rashid and American hurdler Masai Russell in the semi-finals of the women\u2019s 60mH at the 2024 World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow. Photo: Kevin Morris<\/p>\n