Weltklasse Zürich
| Weltklasse Zürich | |
|---|---|
The host stadium – Letzigrund
|
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| Date | August |
| Location | Zürich, Switzerland |
| Event type | Track and field |
| Established | 1928 |
| Official site | www |
Weltklasse Zürich (English: World Class Zurich) is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the IAAF Diamond League (which succeeded the Golden League in 2010). One of the first large-scale international athletics events (outside the Olympics), it is sometimes referred to as the one-day Olympics. Weltklasse Zürich first took place on 12 August 1928. In the beginning, the meeting was nicknamed by the public as the "Nurmi meeting" after the most admired and celebrated participant at the time, Paavo Nurmi. On 21 June 1960, on the Letzigrund track, Armin Hary ran the 100 metres as the first human being in 10.0 seconds.
The most popular "rubber-like" track surface utilized at all modern Olympic and World Championship competitions (both indoors and outdoors) are those made by Italian company Mondo. However, a new surface at the Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich was developed in 2014 by Swiss company CONICA. The existing track will not be replaced but retopped on 12 June 2014 with CONICA's new surface, the triple-layer CONIPUR M. Tests conducted by the Institute of Biomechanics and Orthopaedics of the German Sport University Cologne have confirmed the benefits of the new system. “The new surface provides athletes with better stability of the big toes, ankles, and in particular of their knees,” said the professor who led the studies. “This effect results in a smaller loss of energy in these joints, and therefore in less oscillation of the body’s center of gravity. The new surface of the track therefore creates even better conditions for fast times.” The new surface will be installed in June 2014 at a cost of 800,000 Swiss francs (£535,000 pounds/$901,000 dollars/€655,000 euros) and will be paid by the City of Zurich, which owns Letzigrund Stadium.
Over the course of its history, numerous world records have been set at Weltklasse Zürich.
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