ZURICH, Aug 27 (Reuters) – Brazil’s Alison dos Santos and American Masai Russell smashed world records at the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday, stealing the spotlight on a night heralded as an assault on the women’s 800 metres mark.
Dos Santos stormed to victory in the men’s 400m hurdles in 45.80 seconds, toppling Karsten Warholm’s world record of 45.94 set at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
The Brazilian blew apart the race off the final bend and powered clear down the home straight, with Warholm trailing home in 46.69.
Olympic champion Russell then produced a record run of her own, surging away over the final hurdle to clock 12.09 in the women’s 100m hurdles to erase the previous mark of 12.12 set by Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan in 2022.
The 26-year-old Dos Santos has spent years knocking on the door of history, winning world gold in 2022, silver in 2025 and Olympic bronze medals in Tokyo and Paris. This season he has turned the tables decisively on Warholm, extending his unbeaten run against the Norwegian to five races.
“The crowd and the energy were perfect. I think this night was amazing for me, for those who came to watch – I did it for everybody,” Dos Santos said.
“Also, I hope that Brazil stopped to watch this as much as the people here in the stadium. This has been an incredible night, I have no words to explain what happened other than I just broke the world record.”
Warholm said Dos Santos was “brilliant”.
“Honestly, I felt strong… but I just cannot go out there and run one second faster because he does it. That is not how it works.
“So I have got to get back to the drawing board and do something else.”
Home favourite Audrey Werro sent the Zurich crowd into raptures by moving even closer to the sport’s oldest world record, storming to victory in the women’s 800 metres in 1:53.70.
“It was crazy, I am very proud,” Werro said.
The newly crowned European champion came within 0.42 seconds of Czechoslovakian Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 43-year-old world record of 1:53.28, long considered one of the most unattainable marks in the sport.
The race also underlined the growing strength of the event, with double world 400m hurdles champion Femke Broeders-Bol of the Netherlands continuing her successful transition to the two-lap discipline by finishing second in a personal best 1:54.71.
Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson of Britain announced her withdrawal from Zurich earlier this week saying her “body was not ready”.
Swedish pole vault star Mondo Duplantis soared 6.25 metres for his second successive victory after a few shaky weeks, while Emmanouil Karalis vaulted a Greek record 6.20 to finish second.
Duplantis narrowly missed on all three world-record attempts at 6.32 metres while Karalis also boldly took three attempts at that height, but missed.
Saint Lucia’s Olympic champion Julien Alfred laid down a marker ahead of next month’s World Athletics Ultimate Championships, winning the women’s 100m in a national record 10.70 seconds.
“Staying at the top is definitely a harder job than making it up there,” Alfred said. “Going up the mountain, you are still hungry, you want more. It is not much fun when you’re not the one being hunted.
“When I became Olympic champion, it was a completely different state – mentally and emotionally.”
Melissa Jefferson-Wooden matched Alfred’s time, with the result decided by photo finish, while American teammate Sha’Carri Richardson was third in 10.97.
Kenny Bednarek of the U.S. won the men’s 200m in a world leading time for this season of 19.62, while Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi won the men’s 800m in 1:41.76 — also the fastest time in the world this season — for his second successive Diamond League victory.
“Just to try to run fast, to run my own race,” Wanyonyi said. “This result shows that my body is coming up. And when I see the world records being broken, I know my time will come.”
He edged Djamel Sedjati of Algeria, who finished in 1:41.83.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Clare Fallon)
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