10 years
The 2019 season is the tenth in the history of the IAAF Diamond League, which held its first meeting in Doha back in 2010.
Since then, the Diamond Trophy has been won 288 times, with 32 athletes being crowned Diamond League champion at the end of each season.
This edition of Weltklasse Zurich is the 19th IAAF Diamond League Final of all time, with next week’s event in Brussels making it a round 20.
2 Finals
For the last ten years, the IAAF Diamond League Final has been spread across two meetings in Zurich and Brussels, with 16 athletes crowned champions of their disciplines at each meeting.
Last year, the two finals were held back to back, providing a stage for one of the most impressive feats in Diamond League history from a certain Colombian superstar. Having won the women’s triple jump final in Zurich on August 30, Caterine Ibargüen got up the next morning, travelled to Brussels and won another Diamond Trophy in the long jump.
With the finals more than a week apart, there will be no need for such heroics this year, and from 2020, a minor change to the format will mean that there will be just one final instead of two. Next year’s campaign will culminate on one, bombastic evening in Zurich, with 32 Diamond Trophies handed out at a single stroke.
16 Diamond Trophies
For the time being, however, there are still only 16 trophies up for grabs at each Final. Athletes have competed for points throughout the season in a bid to finish high enough up the rankings to secure a place in the final.
Injuries and unavailabilities allow the odd non-qualifier to sneak into the final as a replacement in some disciplines.
Yet for the most part, those competing in Zürich have finished in the top eight or top 12 of their chosen discipline, meaning it is the best athletes in the world this year who will be (figuratively) knocking lumps out of each other to get their hands on one of the 16 Diamond Trophies.
12 defending champions
Some athletes have managed to build up veritable dynasties in the Diamond League over the years. Record winner Renaud Lavillenie has seven Diamond Trophies on his mantelpiece, while Sandra Perkovic and Christian Taylor both have six titles to their name.
Defending the Diamond Trophy is no mean feat, however, as a number of athletes may find to their chagrin on Thursday evening.
In 12 of the 16 disciplines in Zurich, the reigning champion is among the finalists, with a chance to win the Diamond Trophy for the second or even third year in a row. Other perennial champions, such as the aforementioned Sandra Perkovic, are looking to regain the title they lost last year.
50,000 dollars
For those who do triumph in Zurich, the prize is more than just a Diamond Trophy. The Diamond League gives out a total of $5.6m every year, and $1.6m of that is for the trophy winners alone.
That means $50,000 for each Diamond League Champion crowned in Zurich on Thursday night.
Some of that might, of course, go on adding extra baggage at the last minute. The Diamond Trophy, after all, weighs 4.9kg and is not the easiest thing to slip into your hand luggage.
25,000 fans
As in every season for the last few years, the IAAF Diamond League Final at Weltklasse Zurich is a sell-out. 25,000 fans will pile into the Letzigrund Stadion on Thursday evening.
If you are one of the unfortunate many who will not be in Zurich on Thursday night, then make sure you follow all the action in our live blog throughout the course of the day.