ZURICH, Switzerland, Aug. 27,
2026 - Anderson Peters and Kirani James produced season-best performances
to secure podium finishes for Grenada at the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday,
on a night when two world records were broken at the Letzigrund Stadium.
Peters finished second in the
men’s javelin throw with 86.93 metres, while James placed third in the men’s
400 metres in 44.83 seconds.
Peters recorded his season best
in the opening round and held the early lead before Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga
Pathirage moved ahead with 88.23m in the second round.
Pathirage strengthened his
position with 89.90m in the third round before producing a winning throw of
92.07m with his final attempt.
Peters followed his opening
effort with throws of 82.17m, 83.52m, 84.22m and 82.08m before fouling in the
last round. Poland’s Dawid Wegner took third with a season best of 85.16m.
“The energy here is always nice, and we had some really good throws today,” Peters said. “I am grateful for the
season best, but I started to miss the javelin a little bit. We are heading in
the right direction, and the aim is to peak at the Ultimate Championships.”
The two-time world champion said
finding the right balance in his approach remains important as he prepares for
his remaining competitions.
“Today, maybe I was a little bit
too relaxed,” he said. “At the previous competition, I was a bit faster and a
little more tense. It’s always about finding the balance of how we should
approach the competition.”
Peters, whose personal best is
93.07m, remains confident that another throw beyond 90 metres is within reach.
“My PB is 93m. I am capable of
throwing 90m,” he said. “The plan was to throw it even today, but I was a bit
too comfortable. I am ready for the next one.”
James also recorded his fastest
time of the season in the additional men’s 400m, which was not part of the
Diamond League points programme.
Running from lane six, the
Grenadian finished strongly to take third in 44.83 seconds.
Japan’s Yuki Joseph Nakajima won
the race in a season best of 44.62, with Italy’s Edoardo Scotti second in
44.70. American Vernon Norwood placed fourth in 44.92.
The evening’s biggest
performances came in the hurdles.
Brazil’s Alison dos Santos
stormed to a world record of 45.80 seconds in the men’s 400m hurdles, lowering
the previous mark of 45.94 set by Norway’s Karsten Warholm at the Tokyo Olympic
Games in 2021.
Warholm finished second in 46.69,
while Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel was third in 47.50.
Less than half an hour later,
Masai Russell of the United States established a world record in the women’s
100m hurdles, clocking 12.09 seconds in still conditions.
Russell erased the previous
record of 12.12 set by Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan in 2022. Amusan finished second on
Thursday with a season best of 12.23, while Nadine Visser of the Netherlands
was third in 12.34.
Saint Lucia’s Julien Alfred led
the other notable Caribbean performances, winning the women’s 100m in a
national record of 10.70 seconds despite a 0.7 metres-per-second headwind.
American Melissa Jefferson-Wooden
was also credited with 10.70, but Alfred was awarded the victory following a
photo finish. Sha’Carri Richardson of the United States placed third in 10.97.
“Staying at the top is definitely
a harder job than making it up there,” Alfred said. “We have a long way to go
in Saint Lucia, but we are getting there. A national record puts Saint Lucia on
the map.”
Jamaica’s Rajindra Campbell
finished second in the men’s shot put with 22.22m. American Jordan Geist won
with a personal best of 22.53m, while Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri was third with
22.16m.
Rushell Clayton added another
podium finish for Jamaica, placing third in the women’s 400m hurdles in 53.17
seconds. She missed second place by one-hundredth of a second, with American
Dalilah Muhammad clocking a season best of 53.16.
Anna Cockrell of the United
States won the race in a world-leading and meeting-record time of 52.13.
Zurich was the final
regular-season meeting before the two-day Diamond League Final in Brussels on
September 4 and 5. Peters has qualified to represent Grenada in the men’s
javelin final, while James’ race in Zurich was outside the championship points
series.
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