Two World Records in One Night: Dos Santos and Russell Rewrite the Hurdles in Zurich
Two hurdlers broke world records within an hour of each other at the Zurich Diamond League on 27 August 2026, turning a sold-out Letzigrund Stadium into the fastest night the sport has seen in years.
Alison Dos Santos of Brazil ran 45.80 seconds for the 400m hurdles, shaving 0.14 off the mark Karsten Warholm set in his extraordinary Tokyo Olympic final. The 400m hurdles — ten barriers over a full lap — rewards rhythm and courage in equal measure, and Dos Santos delivered both, lowering a record many thought would stand for a generation.
Minutes later, Masai Russell of the United States stormed through the 100m hurdles in 12.09. That clipped 0.03 from the 12.12 Tobi Amusan ran to win the 2022 world title in Eugene. Russell, the reigning Olympic champion, now owns the fastest time ever recorded over the sprint hurdles. Each record earned its breaker an $80,000 cheque.
The pole vault produced its own piece of history. Mondo Duplantis cleared 6.25m to win, but the night belonged as much to Greek rival Emmanouil Karalis, who vaulted a personal best of 6.20m. Never before had two men surpassed 6.20m in the same competition. Both then took aim at a possible world record of 6.32m — and missed, but only narrowly.
On the track, Kenya's Emmanuel Wanyonyi won the men's 800m in 1:41.76, the fastest time in the world this year. Algeria's Djamel Sedjati trailed by just 0.07 seconds. Wanyonyi has spoken about chasing David Rudisha's 800m world record of 1:40.91 — a mark set at the London Olympics in 2012 — comparing the pursuit to breaking two hours for the marathon. On this form, the gap is narrowing.
Switzerland's Audrey Werro gave the home crowd a thrill in the women's 800m, running 1:53.70 — the third-fastest time ever — to close within four tenths of Jarmila Kratochvilova's 1983 world record of 1:53.28, the longest-standing mark in the sport. Femke Broeders-Bol of the Netherlands finished second.
What makes this night stand out is the sheer density of it. Twenty-five thousand people packed the Letzigrund, and across barely two hours they watched two world records fall, a pole vault competition unlike any in history, and a teenager from the host nation come within touching distance of a record older than she is. Diamond League meetings often promise much and deliver in fragments. This one delivered from the first gun to the last vault attempt.
Dos Santos arrived in Zurich already holding a world lead from the Silesia meeting four days earlier, where he had signalled his form. Russell, too, had been building through the season, having run 12.14 at the Xiamen meeting in May. Neither arrived as a surprise. Both arrived ready to break something that had seemed unbreakable. The Guardian · World Athletics
