Moon, Allen, Woodruff and Markezich prepare for Weltklasse Zürich...
In the last major meet before the world championships begin on September 13th, many of the world's best track and field athletes who competed during the 14-meet Wanda Diamond League series that began in April in China, assemble for the Diamond League finals at the Weltklasse Zürich.
Former Pullman resident and reigning world champion Katie Moon (Paul Merca file photo) tunes up for her world title defense Wednesday in the women's pole vault, which is one of six events contested outside the Letzigrund Stadium.
The women's pole vault was originally scheduled for Thursday at Letzigrund Stadium, but due to potential weather conditions, the event was moved to Wednesday as an addition to five other events contested as part of the Weltklasse's street meet at the Sechseläutenplatz in front of Zürich’s opera house.
The other events contested Wednesday include the men’s pole vault and long jump, the women’s high jump and the men’s and women’s shot put.
Moon is part of a field that includes fellow US stars Emily Grove and Sandi Morris, Italy’s Roberta Bruni, Slovenia’s Tina Sutej and Swiss athletes Lea Bachmann and Angelica Moser.
The women's pole vault gets underway Wednesday at 5:30 am Pacific/2:30 pm local time.
In the main portion of the meet on Thursday, Washington State alum CJ Allen (men's 400H), Woodinville native Olivia Markezich (women's steeple), and Washington grad Gianna Woodruff (women's 400H) are the only three with state of Washington ties competing.
Allen, who was tenth in the Diamond League standings after the Silesia meet, got into the Zürich meet after several athletes ahead of him in the standings opted to pass and prepare for Tokyo.
Among those who passed on Zürich was Olympic 400 hurdles champ Rai Benjamin..
Allen and fellow American Trevor Bassitt are in a must-win situation going into the Diamond League finals if either want to compete at the world championships beginning in two weeks.
A victory by either unlocks a bye into the world championships. Had Benjamin competed in the Diamond League finals and won, it would have unlocked a spot for Allen, who was fourth at the Toyota USATF Outdoor championships.
Norway's Karsten Warholm is the overwhelming favorite in the men's 400H, in a field that includes Qatar's Abderrahman Samba and Ezekiel Nathaniel of Nigeria, the reigning NCAA champ from Baylor.
The race goes at 11:44 am Pacific/8:44 pm local time.
Washington alum Gianna Woodruff, clinched a spot in the Diamond League finals with her second place finish in Brussels last week. Woodruff, who is also prepping for Tokyo, faces a field that includes favorite Femke Bol of the Netherlands.
The women's 400 hurdles begins nine minutes before the men's race.
At 11:09 am Pacific/8:09 pm local time, Woodinville native Olivia Markezich goes in the Diamond League women's steeple finals. Markezich, who was fifth at the USA championships, is in the field with two Americans, Courtney Wayment, and Gabi Jennings.
Wayment, who was on the world championship team two years ago, was sixth at nationals while Jennings was ninth.
A win by any of those three unlocks a spot in Tokyo. That said, Kenya's Faith Cherotich and Kazakstan's Norah Jeruto are the top seeds, with both having seed times under 9 minutes.
Flotrack ($) will stream both days of the Wanda Diamond League finals.
LATE RESULTS FROM OVER THE WEEKEND...
In Oslo on Saturday, former Husky Sam Tanner of New Zealand finished third in the men's 1500 at the Sankthanshaugen 5000 at Bislett Stadium.
Also last Saturday in Newark, New Jersey, Washington alum Cass Elliott was second in the 600m at the 800m Series meet.
Elliott ran 1:15.19.
In the women's 800, Valery Tobias of the Brooks Beasts was third in 2:02.08, while teammate Teagan Schein-Becker was ninth in 2:03.59.
NOTE: The Weltklasse Zürich meet,the Wanda Diamond League, and World Athletics contributed to this report.
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