Zurich Diamond League 2023 preview: Full schedule and how to watch live track and field action
Newly crowned world championships and record breakers such as Noah Lyles, Sha’Carri Richardson, Karsten Warholm and Miltiadis Tentoglou will light up the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday (31 August). Here is everything you need to know.
Athletics
Athletics fans will barely get a chance to catch their breath following the conclusion of a thrilling World Athletics Championships with the action shifting back to the premier international track and field series.
The Zurich Diamond League meeting on Wednesday (30 August) and Thursday (31 August) is brimming with world champions looking to affirm their newfound status and athletes out to prove a point.
Athletes to watch at the 2023 Zurich Diamond League
The sprints on Thursday will have a host of global superstars including Noah Lyles, who bowed out of the World Championships with the golden treble - 100m, 200, and 4x100m relay titles. Lyles will line up in the 200m as the three-time world champion.
The American will go up against Olympic champion Andre De Grasse, rising star Erriyon Knighton, African record holder Letsile Tebogo, and Zharnel Hughes.
The women’s 100m will be another mouth-watering affair with Sha’Carri Richardson lining up as the fastest woman in the world after she was crowned queen of the blue-riband event in Budapest. Richardson will face Jamaican sprint queen Elaine Thompson-Herah, who only ran the relay in Budapest.
Fellow Jamaican speedster Shericka Jackson will skip the 100m, instead focusing on her specialist half-lap sprint event. Jackson successfully defended her 200m world title in a championship record time of 21.41 seconds and the second fastest time in history behind only Florence Griffith-Joyner's 21.34 from the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games.
Karsten Warholm reigned supreme in the men's 400m hurdles reclaiming the world title he conceded the year before. The world record holder will be among the main attractions in Zurich where he is tested by runner-up Rai Benjamin and Alison dos Santos, who failed to defend his world title in Budapest.
Newly-crowned 1,500m world champion Josh Kerr will have a target on his back when he leads a quality field that includes Yared Nuguse and Mohamed Katir in Zurich. In the men's 5,000m, Olympic 10000 m champion Selemon Barega takes on Ethiopian steeplechase ace Lamecha Girma.
In the field, Armand Duplantis will once again be the man to beat after the world record holder soared to his second consecutive gold medal at the World Championships. World silver medallist Ernest John Obiena of the Philippines, Chris Nilsen, and Sam Kendricks will be among the challengers.
India’s Neeraj Chopra will be in action in the men’s javelin throw fresh after making history as the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal at the senior World Championships. The Olympic champion will face off against former world champion Anderson Peters of Grenada and Jakub Vadlejch.
Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou will spearhead the long jump competition where he will go up against local hero Simon Ehammer.
How to watch the 2023 Diamond League in Zurich
The women's pole vault competition is taking place on Wednesday (30 August) from 17:30 Central European Summer Time in Zurich's main train station.
The main 2023 Diamond League in Zurich competitions take place on Thursday (31 August).
Action will be streamed in a number of territories on the Wanda Diamond League YouTube page from 20:00 local time (GMT+2). The live stream will not be available in all territories.
BBC has the rights in the UK and will air it on BBC Two, while for viewers in the U.S., NBC holds the rights and will broadcast on CNBC and on Peacock.
SuperSport is the rightsholder for the 2023 Diamond League in most of Africa.
Schedule for the 2023 Zurich Diamond League meeting
All times in Central European Summer Time / CEST (2 hours ahead of GMT/UTC)
Wednesday, 30 August - Zurich Diamond League 2023
- 17:30 Pole vault - women
Thursday, 31 August - Zurich Diamond League 2023
Diamond League events only. Additional events are taking place during the evening for local athletes.
- 18:22 - Triple jump women
- 18:48 - High jump men
- 19:18 - Pole vault men
- 20:04 - 400m hurdles men
- 20:15 - 100m women
- 20:23 - 3,000m steeplechase women
- 20:24 - Long jump men
- 20:41 - 1,500m men
- 20:42 - Javelin throw men
- 20:53 - 800m women
- 21:04 - 200m women
- 21:10 - 5,000m men
- 21:33 - 100m hurdles women
- 21:41 - 200m men
- 22:00 - Closing ceremony