ATHLETICS – REIGNING world and Olympic champion Winfred Yavi and former world champion Salwa Eid Naser are amongst three of Bahrain’s superstar elite athletes who have qualified for Weltklasse Zurich – the two-day finale of this year’s Wanda Diamond League.
The highly anticipated meet is scheduled to be held on Wednesday and Thursday at Stadion Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland, featuring the world’s biggest stars in track and field.
Yavi secured her place in the final of the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase, while Naser will be running in the women’s 400m. Joining them is Bahrain’s distance-running specialist Birhanu Balew, who earned a spot in the men’s 5,000m.
The Wanda Diamond League is the premier one-day meeting series held annually under World Athletics, the sport’s international governing body. Athletes earn points in their disciplines in an effort to qualify for the finale, where they will battle for their respective Diamond Trophies – the athletics campaign’s most prestigious yearly crown. This season’s Wanda Diamond League held its last event prior to Weltklasse Zurich on Friday with the Memorial van Damme in Brussels, Belgium. It was the 14th meeting on a packed 2025 calendar and it set the stage for exciting showdowns this week.
Yavi qualified for her final after placing third on the women’s 3,000m steeplechase Wanda Diamond League standings with 22 points. She competed thrice in the distance this 2025 series, taking the runner-up spot twice and winning once.
The 25-year-old season’s best to date is eight minutes 45.25 seconds, not far from her personal best of 8:44.39, which is the second-fastest mark in history.
Faith Cherotich of Kenya was the top qualifier with 31 points, while Sembo Almayew of Ethiopia was second just a single point ahead of Yavi. Seven other steeplechasers qualified for Weltklasse Zurich, including Peruth Chemutai (15 points) of Uganda, Norah Jeruto (10pts) of Kazakhstan, Marwa Bouzayani (10pts) of Tunisia, Lea Meyer (eight pts) of Germany, Doris Lemngole (eight pts) of Kenya, and Americans Courtney Wayment (11pts) and Gabrielle Jennings (nine pts).
Meanwhile, Naser qualified in third on the women’s 400m standings with 26 points. She competed four times in this season’s Wanda Diamond League, winning once, finishing runner-up twice, and taking fifth the other occasion. The 27-year-old’s fastest mark of the year so far is 48.67s, while her personal best is 48.14s.
Lieke Klaver from the Netherlands qualified for the final in first place with 29 points, followed by Henriette Jaeger from Norway on 28 points. The top three are to be joined by four others who qualified, including Isabella Whittaker (25pts) from the US, reigning world and Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino (24pts) from the Dominican Republic, Natalia Bukowiecka (22pts) from Poland, and Amber Anning (21pts) from Great Britain.
On the distaff, Balew came second in the men’s 5,000m standings in this season’s Wanda Diamond League. The 29-year-old scored 19 points in five participations, where his best was a second-place finish while also being classified third two other times.
Kuma Girma of Ethiopia was the leading man from 10 who qualified with 20 points. His countrymen Yomif Kejelcha (17pts) and Samuel Tefera (14pts) also made it after placing third and fourth, respectively, on the standings. The other qualifiers were Jimmy Gressier (12pts) from France, Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu (10pts) from Switzerland, Mohamed Abdilaahi (10pts) from Germany, Andreas Almgren (eight pts) from Sweden, and Nico Young (10pts) and Graham Blanks (nine pts), both from the US.
The Bahrain Athletics Association (BAA) confirmed last night that Yavi, Naser and Balew will all be competing in Zurich.
Bahrain athletes have so far claimed five Diamond Trophies in past seasons, with Yavi and Naser amongst those winners. Yavi triumphed for the women’s 3,000 metres steeplechase in 2023, while Naser had back-to-back women’s 400m titles in 2018 and 2019.
The two other Diamond Trophies were also claimed in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase by Rio 2016 Olympics champion Ruth Jebet in 2016 and 2017.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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