Wanyonyi, Arop to headline Zurich Diamond League next month
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Reading Time: 2min | Wed. 22.07.26. | 16:36
The pair were expected to match-up in London last weekend, only for the Canadian to miss with reported travel issues
Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi will extend his ever-growing rivalry with former World Champion Marco Arop, when the two athletes collide at the Weltklasse Zürich Diamond League on Thursday, 27 August at the Letzigrund Stadium.
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The duo were last week announced by organizers as the headliners of the men’s 800m race, which will precede another potential showdown between the pair, a week later in the season-ending Brussels Diamond League meet.
Wanyonyi, who is yet to win an 800m race this year, will come up against Arop for only the second time this season.
Following their meet-up at the Oslo leg in early June - when Wanyonyi finished second and Arop third - the pair, who have been frontrunners in the two-lap event for the last four years.
They had been expected to matchup at the recently-concluded London Diamond League last weekend, only for the Canadian to miss out with reported visa and travel issues.
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Their latest installment of a rivalry that dates back to the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in 2022, will made all the more sweeter, with star names also expected to share the track with them.
Joining the two World Champions will be Algeria’s Djamel Sedjati - who won silver at both the 2022 and 2025 World Championships - and Frenchman Gabriel Tual, who won the European Championship title two years ago, and has joined the ranks of the great middle-distance runners with historically fast times.
“Weltklasse Zürich unites the four fastest currently active 800-meter runners in history in one race,” the athlete announcement read.
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For Wanyonyi, the race will provide another sharp assessment of his credentials in the event this season, where he has been uncharacteristically himself.
After back-to-back runners-up finishes in Rabat and Oslo, the new 1000-meter world record rolder was a disappointing fourth at the London Diamond League, this despite looking strong with 200m to go.
With a distraction in the form of the 2026 Commonwealth Games coming up, the 21-year-old will hope to be back in top form in 36 days time.