The world gathers in Zurich for the 2025 Diamond League Final, two nights that bring the sport’s best to Weltklasse and push them to race not only for titles but also for upgraded prize money. Set for Wednesday 27 and Thursday 28 August, the season finale promises an electric blend of speed, tactics, redemption arcs and national pride, with the men’s 100m rivalry of Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson anchoring the narrative while Kenya’s stars chase trophies and life changing checks.
The Zurich stage and what is at stake
Weltklasse Zurich retains its aura, a meeting where champions close the loop on a long campaign and where a single night can recast an entire season. Winners of each discipline will pocket $30,000, a figure that already dwarfs most series stops and adds real edge to every stride and every throw.
This year, the stakes climb higher with the introduction of Diamond plus disciplines, a select set of eight events that award $50,000 to the winner. The move heightens competition at the exact moments fans care most, the sprints, the mile classics, the hurdles, the vertical leap and the trademark distance test on the women’s side.
Diamond plus disciplines and who stands to gain
The eight events designated for the enhanced payout are the men’s 100m, men’s 1500m, men’s 400m hurdles, men’s pole vault, women’s 100m, women’s 100m hurdles, women’s 3000m and women’s long jump. In practical terms, men’s 100m features Olympics 100m champion Noah Lyles, silver medalist Kishane Thompson, Akani Simbine, Emmanuel Eseme, Trayvon Bromell and Zharnel Hughes, while the women’s 100m brings together Julien Alfred, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, Maia McCoy, Marie-Josee Ta Lou-Smith, Jacious Sears, Dina Asher-Smith and Tina Clayton.
Kenya is deeply invested in one of the other Diamond plus centerpieces, the men’s 1500m, where Timothy Cheruiyot, Reynold Cheruiyot and Phanuel Koech line up in a race that also includes American contender Yared Nuguse. The allure is simple, win the trophy, secure $50,000, and walk into the World Championships in Tokyo with momentum and conviction.
There is a broader logic behind the money shift, this is how it’s done, concentrate incentives around globally resonant races that draw peak interest, this is how it’s done squared, reward athletes who consistently carry the spotlight in marquee events, this is how it’s done cubed, ensure the final night feels bigger than any other meet on the calendar.
Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson set the 100m storyline
The sprint plot has simmered all season and Zurich is a key checkpoint before Tokyo. In Silesia, Thompson took the win in 9.87 seconds with Lyles second, a result that was less a verdict and more a teaser for what comes next.
Lyles framed the rivalry with swagger and respect, first praising Thompson as a great competitor, then delivering the line that sent social feeds buzzing, he had the Jamaican in his pocket. Thompson shot back with a smile that carried steel, my pocket’s going to be so far ahead next time.
American sprint legend Justin Gatlin, once the man to beat in this very event, broke down the matchup with the eye of a technician. He highlighted Thompson’s crisp start, strong drive phase and excellent top end speed, yet warned that holding speed without separation leaves the door open for a closer like Lyles.
“When you watch Kishane’s 100 meters, his turnover is amazing. He gets off the blocks well, his drive phase and transition are strong, and he holds his top-end speed. That’s both a gift and a curse, because when he maintains that speed, guys like Noah Lyles, who close very fast in the final meters, can still catch him.”
Gatlin’s prescription was precise, sharpen the transition to top speed and create more daylight through the middle third. If Lyles is within striking distance at 80 meters, the finish becomes a coin toss that the American often turns in his favor.
“That’s something Kishane and his team need to address in the coming months, generating more separation when transitioning into top speed. If Noah is close at the finish, it could be déjà vu all over again.”
The other warning from Gatlin was about underestimating Lyles. The American has raced sparingly, yet he has beaten men who have been active all year and, by Gatlin’s assessment, he has transformed physically from a lean 200m archetype to a bulkier, power oriented sprinter with elevated top end speed.
“The athlete who has made the biggest transformation is Noah Lyles. From his physique to his race strategy, he’s changed everything. Even with minimal races, Noah has been able to beat guys who’ve been competing all year. That tells you he has a strategy, and by the time the championships arrive, he’ll be even faster.”
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Kenyan ambitions and the Ksh 3.8 million chase
Kenya enters Zurich with multiple lanes to the podium and multiple paths to the Ksh 3.8 million winners’ prize that each champion claims in the standard events. Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi headlines the men’s 800m and is favored to secure a second straight Diamond League trophy after a series campaign of four wins in six, plus a second and a third.
In the men’s 1500m, Timothy Cheruiyot brings the gravitas of a four time Diamond League winner, his last overall title came in 2021, and the hunger for a fifth is obvious. Alongside him, Reynold Cheruiyot and Phanuel Koech chase their first crowns, a blend of experience and ambition that suits a final where every lap is a decision point.
The men’s 3000m steeplechase presents a familiar mountain, Olympic and world champion Soufiane El Bakkali stands in the path of Edmund Serem, Simon Koech and Abraham Kibiwott. It is the classic Zurich equation, manage the early rhythm, stay clean over barriers, and leave enough to attack the final water jump.
On the women’s side, Faith Kipyegon is the sport’s surest thing at 1500m. The multiple Olympic and world champion is widely expected to claim a sixth Diamond League title, with compatriots Nelly Chepchirchir and Susan Ejore adding depth and tactical options in a race where Kipyegon has remained unbeaten for years.
Beatrice Chebet carries the banner in the women’s 5000m, the Olympic champion and world record holder is the overwhelming favorite to defend her Diamond League crown and claim a third title. With Gudaf Tsegay in the mix, plus Kenyan teammates Agnes Jebet Ngetich and Caroline Nyaga, the race should be fierce, yet Chebet’s season trend has been peerless.
The women’s 3000m steeplechase is a coming of age opportunity for 21 year old Faith Cherotich. Three wins and one second in the series mark her as a breakout force, with Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi as the primary challenger and Kenyan Doris Lemngole also positioned to matter in the laps that decide medals and money.
There is a field event chapter too, and Julius Yego has written himself back into it with authority. The former world javelin champion won the Silesia Diamond League with 83.60m, his first series meeting victory since 2016, and now speaks openly about chasing the length needed to contend for the season title.
Ferdinand Omanyala absence and the human cost of sprinting
Every big final has its heartbreak and in Africa the most acute pain arrives with Ferdinand Omanyala’s withdrawal. Kenya’s sprint talisman, a constant presence on the circuit, confirmed he will not compete in Zurich due to hip, iliopsoas and gluteal pain that has lingered in recent weeks.
“Due to recent hip, iliopsoas, and gluteal pain experienced over the past few weeks, I regret to inform you that I will be unable to participate in the Diamond League Finals 2025. I am optimistic about my recovery and anticipate being fully fit for Tokyo.”
The decision ends a season that blended flashes of vintage power with stubborn setbacks. Omanyala opened with a 100m win at the Athletics Kenya meet in Thika, then placed third at the ASA Grand Prix I in 10.22, before a 10.08 victory in the second leg signaled momentum.
He clocked 10.02 at the Uganda Trials, helped deliver a landmark for Kenya in qualifying the men’s 4x100m relay at the World Relays in Guangzhou, and ran 10.00 for second at the Botswana Grand Prix. On the Diamond League stage, he finished second in Xiamen and third in Rome with 10.01, a reminder that the podium is never far when he is healthy.
There were misses too, including difficulties at the Gyulai István Memorial where he finished eighth as Kishane Thompson won in 9.95. Brussels proved another tough night, and by late August the injury verdict made Zurich impossible and shifted the sprint star’s focus to healing in time for Tokyo.
For Kenyan fans, Omanyala’s absence hurts the heart as much as it alters the race math. It removes a beloved face from the 100m theater, yet it also reframes the season as a study in resilience, a gamble on health today in order to run free tomorrow, and a reminder that every body in the blocks carries battles we rarely see.
Mercy Oketch arrives with a win yet wants more
Kenya’s next wave is already pressing forward, and Mercy Oketch has chosen to arrive with results and honesty in equal measure. In her Diamond League debut in Brussels, she won the women’s 400m invitational in 51.26, then admitted she wanted more from the clock.
“No, I am not completely happy with this time, but I did the best I could. This is my first Diamond League race ever, and I really enjoyed it. It was nice to compete in such a packed stadium. I am not sure when my next race will be, maybe Tokyo.”
Oketch’s season arc has been steady and purposeful, from domestic relays and the Kip Keino Classic where she reigned, to the Kenyan Championships triumph at 400m, then a sequence of European meetings that added polish. The through line is clear, a rising quarter miler learning to turn national dominance into global presence.
The honesty after Brussels, paired with a win, is the detail that reveals her competitive wiring. It looks like the profile of an athlete who will study the last 100m, fix the rhythm between 200m and 300m, and arrive in Tokyo with tangible improvements aimed at a deep championship run.
What to watch in Zurich
Three lenses can guide viewers through the Zurich finale, this is how it’s done, track the Diamond plus disciplines where the prize money jump raises the temperature of every stride, this is how it’s done squared, follow the Kenyan contingent across middle distance, steeple and javelin where titles and Ksh 3.8 million are within reach, this is how it’s done cubed, savor the men’s 100m as a chapter in a season long rivalry that leads straight into Tokyo.
For Wanyonyi, Zurich can be the confirmation of supremacy at 800m and a springboard to global defense. For Timothy Cheruiyot and the young 1500m guns, it can be a handoff of legacy or a resolute extension of it, written through split second decisions on the bell lap.
For Faith Kipyegon and Beatrice Chebet, the finale is a chance to put a sheen on seasons already etched into the sport’s memory. For Faith Cherotich, it is an invitation to step into the winner’s circle of a discipline that Kenya has loved, mastered and renewed across generations.
In the field, Julius Yego’s return to winning form carries emotional weight. The measure of a thrower is often the ability to find one big round when the whole world is measuring, and Zurich offers him that exact test with a title on the line.
And for the sprints, Zurich asks us to hold two truths together. Lyles is a strategist remodeling himself for the 100m’s final 20 meters, Thompson is a charger with lethal turnover who only needs to widen the gap in transition. The difference between triumph and lesson can be a half step, a sharper rise from drive phase, or the courage to lean when the lactic sting tells you to brace.
Final word
Zurich gathers the best of track and field in a stadium that knows how to frame greatness. It brings new money to the races that shape the sport’s heartbeat, it gives Kenya multiple podium paths, and it offers the 100m another chance to turn rivalry into theater.
There is joy in Mercy Oketch’s earnest climb, there is grit in Julius Yego’s resurgence, there is quiet hope in Ferdinand Omanyala’s promise to be ready for Tokyo. On Wednesday and Thursday, the clock will speak for everyone, and for a few athletes it will speak in the language of trophies and checks that change the story of a season.
