The Weltklasse Zurich meeting on 24. August hosted the first of two final rounds of the 2017 IAAF Diamond League circuit, crowning champions in 16 event finals, for which athletes qualified based on points earned from performances during the season’s prior 12 Diamond League stops.
The women’s 3000m steeplechase final featured eight of the event’s top-10 finishers from the London world championships, including Personae-managed athletes Ruth Jebet, Celliphine Chespol, Gesa Krause, and Purity Kirui. After pacemakers and Personae teammates Ann Gathoni and Caroline Tuigong Chepkurui reached the 1000m mark in 3:01.94, Jebet shortly thereafter assumed the lead with Beatrice Chepkoech (WC 4th placer) on her shoulder. With Jebet remaining in front, the pair quickly pulled away from the rest of the field, reaching the 2000m mark in 5:55.72, near world-record pace. Following a brief stint in front by Chepkoech on the second-to-last lap, Jebet regained the lead coming off the penultimate water jump and broke away from Chepkoech with 200m to go. Jebet crossed the line in a new ’17 world-leading time of 8:55.29, the all-time second-fastest women’s steeplechase performance, only surpassed by her own 8:52.78 WR from 2016. Chepkoech with her 2nd place time of 8:59.84 became the fourth women ever to break the steeple 9:00 barrier. Further back in 6th place, Krause’s time of 9:15.85 just missed her own German record of 9:15.70 from earlier this year, while Chespol finished in 8th in 9:17.56.
The remaining 16 event champions of the ’17 IAAF Diamond League will be crownded at the Memorial Van Damme meeting in Brussels on 1. September.