Weltklasse Zurich Inspiration Games Innovates During Pandemic, But Results Show Flaws

By Doug Binder and Erik Boal, DyeStat Editors

For a brief moment Thursday, even Noah Lyles thought he had caught lightning in a bottle when his time flashed up as 18.90 seconds in the men's 200 meters.

The virtual Weltklasse Inspiration Games, Zurich's annual Diamond League meeting, gathered some of the top stars in track and field – in seven venues in six countries. 

It made for uneven head-to-head competition. What was wind-aided in one location was sometimes wind-impaired someplace else. 

It was the most ambitious virtual track and field meet to be held so far during the Coronavirus pandemic, but a few details escaped officials.

Lyles, it turned out, ran only 185 meters instead of 200 at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. He ran the opposite side of the track and his blocks were set at the 400-meter starting line. For about five minutes, commentators and fans wondered if he had really broken Usain Bolt's world record of 19.19 seconds.

“It actually felt pretty good, except for getting that full blast of wind,” Lyles said. “I’ve been working on using my arm swing to get that momentum to generate around the turn. To be honest, it was set up really nicely. (My starts) are actually coming off really well. I had the chance to test that out running (Saturday) against Justin (Gatlin). If you really want to see how good your start is, you’ve got to race Justin. I held my own and felt confident with how much I have been improving.

“As long as I have the right equipment around me, and everything is correct and perfect, I can run anywhere. I can run indoors, outdoors or in the rain. The only thing I’m not a fan of is the wind because I can’t control that.” 

At the renovated Hilmer Lodge Stadium at Mt. SAC in Walnut, Calif., the American trio of Candace Hill, Tianna Bartoletta and Allyson Felix closed out the event by running a 3x100-meter relay in 32.25 seconds – faster than simultaneous races going on in Switzerland and The Netherlands.

“I think we see what a hardship everyone is going through, and we just want to bring a little bit of joy, pause a moment and appreciate the sport,” said Felix, the only double winner in the overall competition, including the 150-meter race.

“This is fun. I can’t wait until we can do it in person, for sure.” 

Hill, 21, was 13 years old when Bartoletta and Felix ran the first two legs of the American 4x100 relay that set the world record by clocking 40.82 at the 2012 London Olympics.

“At first, I was really nervous because they were on the world record-breaking 4 x 100, so I was like, I can’t mess this up and I have to get the baton around,” Hill said. “It is a nice opportunity to run with them and I hope to be like them one day in the future.”

Bartoletta ran the second leg, setting up Felix on the anchor, relying on their history together with no opportunity to practice baton passing ahead of the race.

“We know each other well, which made this race a little easier,” Bartoletta said. “I was really happy to get the call for this 3 x 100, and see it all coming together. I'm really grateful for training, and this just validates the good progress I've been making.” 

Also at Mt. SAC, Georganne Moline won the 300-meter hurdles in 39.08 seconds, the second-fastest time ever produced by an American female athlete – trailing only the 38.90 achieved by Sydney McLaughlin at the 2017 Arcadia Invitational – and No. 10 all-time in the world.

It marked the first competition in more than 500 days for Moline, who had foot surgery in August, and the first hurdling race of any kind since she ran the 400-meter hurdles in Switzerland at the actual Weltklasse Zurich Diamond League meeting Aug. 30, 2018.

“Coach (Fred) Harvey and I just tried to treat it as a practice as much as we could. And there was a lot of anxiety going into this race because it’s been a year and a half for me, regardless of no fans or anything. I was able to calm myself down, I just executed the way I wanted and then one of the hurdles, I just didn’t trust myself coming home and it totally stopped my momentum. So that’s a way to learn, and you know, move forward,” Moline said. “I promised myself I would never take another race or opportunity for granted. And that’s exactly what I intended to do today and that’s what I did. I’m grateful to be here, regardless of the situation. I want to thank Zurich for this amazing opportunity, because this is so cool and I’m so fortunate just to be out here racing again, so I’m just so happy they allowed me to do this.”

Moline was faster than Swiss athlete Lea Sprunger, who clocked 39.25 seconds in Zurich, and Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic, who ran 40.97 in The Netherlands. Hejnova still boasts the fastest 300 hurdles time in history, running 38.16 in 2013.

In a race that was intentionally too short, Andre De Grasse of Canada won the 100-yard dash in 9.68 seconds against two sprinters – Jimmy Vicaut of France and Omar McLeod of Jamaica – who were on the track with him separated by lanes in between in Bradenton. They ran into a -3.4 m/s headwind.

“I felt a little rusty, I felt a little bit out of shape and my fitness wasn’t really there, but I’m happy to get a run in,” De Grasse said. “It’s been a tough year with the pandemic and everyone’s just trying to get a couple of races in somehow, so I’m happy with it and I’m looking forward to trying to get more runs this year and just trying to improve. The last Canadian to run the 100 yards was, I think, Harry Jerome in the 1960s and he ran like 9.4, so I was just trying to run faster than that.”

In one of three field event contests, Portugal's Pedro Pablo Pichardo outperformed Americans Christian Taylor and Omar Craddock in the triple jump. Pichardo had a best mark of 57-1 (17.40m) with a wind of +2.3. Taylor jumped 56-8 (17.27m) on his final attempt with a +4.3 wind at his back in Florida. Craddock managed a best of 55-1 (17.04m) at Mt. SAC.

The women's 150-meter dash, spread across three time zones, produced a winning time of 16.81 for the 34-year-old Felix. Bahamian star Shaunae Miller-Uibo ran 17.15 seconds (in Florida) and Mujinga Kambundji clocked 17.28 at home in Switzerland. Felix and Miller-Uibo both ran into headwinds, while Kambundji did not.

“It was very strange and I feel sort of like practice but not even because there’s really no teammates or anything. It’s hard to challenge yourself, so I think that’s the big thing with running solo,” Felix said. “I missed (having fans). I don’t think there’s anything that can compare to that. But I love this sport and so any chance to get out here and run, it’s been a long time, so I’m all about it.” 

Sandi Morris achieved a second-attempt clearance at 15-3.50 (4.66m) in her season opener in the pole vault to defeat virtual competitors Angelica Bengtsson of Sweden and Greece's Katerina Stefanidi, who no-heighted at Mt. SAC.

“Surprisingly, the wind was mostly a tailwind, then it would be a strong cross for a little while at the end, so I was kind of struggling with it at the end. But if you’re patient and you wait on it, it would turn to a tail, so I had some (attempts) where I got lucky and some where I wasn’t so lucky,” Morris said. “This was a rustbuster for me. I haven’t jumped from my full approach since the indoor season, so I was kind of using this as a time to get off the ground, to get some jumps under my belt and have some fun. This is a very unique situation that we’re in, and I’m very lucky to have an opportunity to jump, so I’m extremely happy that I had this opportunity.”

Sam Kendricks cleared 19-0.75 (5.81m) to claim victory in the men's pole vault in Florida. Poland's Piotr Lisek was second at 18-6.75 (5.66m) and France's Valentin LaVillenie no-heighted.

“As vaulters, we got to pick our pit, so when the wind comes strong, we actually got to use it to our advantage. At times, we had the wind at our backs, maybe a little cross sometimes, but we don’t want that to be the theme of the story. It was a great day to jump high,” said Kendricks, who cleared 18-10.75 (5.76m) on his third attempt before making 19-0.75 on his first try.

“Everybody had to work through a little bit of rain and that's kind of the summation of the Inspiration Games. We wanted to be able to have something and overcome it, and it just happened to be a couple more things than just distance.”