Australia’s Nicola Olyslagers returned to her world champion form at the Weltklasse Zurich meeting, securing victory in the women’s high jump with a season’s best 2.02 metres. However, her achievement was part of a night dominated by two world records, with Alison dos Santos and Masai Russell both making history at the Stadion Letzigrund.
World records fall in Zurich
Brazil’s Alison dos Santos shattered the men’s 400m hurdles world record, breaking the five-year-old mark of 45.94 seconds. Meanwhile, USA’s Masai Russell blazed to a world record in the women’s 100m hurdles, clocking 12.09 seconds to eclipse the previous mark of 12.12 seconds.
The meeting, often dubbed the “two-hour Olympics” for its quality, nearly delivered a third world record as pole vault stars Armand Duplantis and Emmanouil Karalis both attempted 6.32 metres.
Olyslagers' season-best triumph
Olyslagers, who had a disappointing season after losing her Commonwealth title to teammate Eleanor Patterson, roared back with a season’s best 2.02 metres, winning by two centimetres from Ukraine’s Iryna Gerashchenko. Patterson and Ukraine’s Olympic champion Yaroslava Mahuchikh both cleared 1.96 metres, finishing fourth and joint-sixth respectively.
Olyslagers attributed her victory to ditching a new run-up that she decided at the weekend wasn’t working. “It took me some time to reflect,” she said after another disappointing outing in Poland. “I decided it does not work, so within four days, I had to try to relearn in my head what I did last year to jump my lifetime best 2.04m here. When I felt the track, I knew it was the same feeling as last year in the street meet. After I cleared two metres at the first attempt, I knew I was in shape. It was amazing.”
Other Australian performances
Cam Myers impressed again in the men’s 3000m, clocking 7:27.97 to finish third, pipped by American duo Parker Wolfe (meeting record 7:27.43) and Graham Blanks (7:27.92). “It was a tough race, the people out there are strong competitors,” Myers said. “I knew it was going to be a good test, but in the end Parker was just better than me, that’s how it goes.”
Jess Hull finished fifth in the 800m in 1:58.24, a race won in dazzling fashion by Swiss heroine Audrey Werro, who clocked a world-leading 1:53.70. Torrie Lewis was second in a non-Diamond League 200 metres, clocking 22.66 seconds, just outside her season’s best, behind Swiss winner Fabienne Hoenke (22.53).
