Must-Watch Event: Women’s 100m

It’s rare that a World champion wouldn’t take on an Olympic champion head-to-head in a championship setting, but double-double Olympic champ Elaine Thompson-Herah was still getting back to fitness after a tough spring at the time of the Jamaican champs and missed the team in her specialty event. The consolation prize is that she gets to face off with World 100m champ Sha’Carri Richardson in Zurich instead.

It was surprising to see Richardson on the start list so soon after running 7 races in Budapest (3 rounds of the 100m and 200m, plus the 4x100m final), and there’s probably a nonzero chance that she withdraws between now and race time. But if she does race, it will be awesome to see how she fares against Thompson-Herah and a lineup that also features her American teammates TeeTee Terry and Tamara Clark. If she delivers here, it would be a great sign that not only has Richardson figured out how to hit her peak in the right circumstances but her consistency - a weakness in the past - is getting better and better. And if Thompson-Herah, who only ran on one iteration of Jamaica’s 4x100m this past weekend, blows away the competition here, it significantly increases the hype around her return to full health and fitness as she seeks an unprecedented third Olympic gold in 2024.

Must-Watch Athlete: Yulimar Rojas

Yulimar Rojas winning international triple jump competitions is a near certainty. She hasn’t lost a World/Olympic final since 2016, where she finished second in Rio. But for a few tense minutes in Budapest, that streak seemed to be seriously in doubt as Rojas could not seem to find the right rhythm and needed a clutch sixth-round leap to claim gold against a strong performance from Ukrainian Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk. Was it a rare off day that she managed to salvage, or is there something going more seriously wrong for the world record holder? We’ll get more information here. It’s worth noting that although Rojas is undefeated and has the three longest jumps in the world this year, her season’s best is half a meter shy of her PB and she’s been competing since June after skipping the indoor season. So it’s not crazy to suggest that a lingering health or training issue could be persisting behind the scenes, but more Rojas-like performance here would put any doubts to rest.

Must-Watch Revenge Tour: Women’s 100m Hurdles

When 2015 World champ Danielle Williams shocked the world (and thrilled Jamaican track fans) by returning to the top of the podium in the Budapest high hurdles final, she didn’t just win. She won by taking down a who’s-who of the event’s best, including reigning Olympic champ Jasmine Camacho-Quinn, reigning World champ Tobi Amusan, 2019 World champ Nia Ali, and 2023 world leader Keni Harrison. Harrison in particular has to be more than a little frustrated: while she has two silver and a bronze in the event over the last 4 global championships, she’s never won gold despite being the former world record holder and a 5-time U.S. champ. It seems that three rounds of racing can sometimes get the better of the LA-based Kentucky alum, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the one-and-done format of the Diamond League work out more in her favor. And fellow Wildcat Camacho-Quinn is the Olympic champ from Tokyo, but after losing at the last two Worlds, she’ll be eager to prove she’s still a contender for gold in Paris.

Must-Watch Return: Grant Fisher

It’s a little too easy to forget we’re less than a year removed from Grant Fisher running the 12:46.96 American record in Brussels to become the first (and still only) U.S. runner under 12:50. Track fans’ memories are notoriously short, and with Woody Kincaid picking off his indoor American record, Joe Klecker running sub-13 twice in three weeks, and Abdihamid Nur picking up his first U.S. title while Fisher battled a stress reaction during USAs, the public perception that he’s the best distance runner in the nation faded fast. But Fisher is back in action here alongside Kincaid, Worlds 4th and 5th placers Luis Grijalva and Yomif Kejelcha, and 10,000m bronze medalist Selemon Barega. Barega may be the favorite here as he’s got the right combination of current fitness and plenty of rest (the 10,000m final was 11 days ago) to deliver, but U.S. track fans will be keeping an eye on where Fisher lands in the pack and how he looks.

Must-Watch Encore: Men’s 1500m

Josh Kerr knows how to deliver in championships: he and rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen are the only runners with multiple medals in the last three global championships, and Kerr’s gold-medal performance in Budapest was one of the signature moments of the entire competition. But historically he’s not the guy to tear it up week in and week out on the circuit, choosing his races carefully and timing his training to deliver at the championships. So whether he can follow up the physical and emotional peak of Budapest with a strong performance or even a PB here is an open question. Odds are that he won’t: it’s incredibly hard to replicate a moment like that so soon afterward and there are a number of other guys in the field with plenty to prove, including 5000m silver medalist Mo Katir and the 3rd through 11th placers in the closely-contested Worlds final. Training partners Yared Nuguse and Mario Garcia Romo of On Athletics Club in particular will be two to keep an eye on, as well as American Cole Hocker with yet another healthy week of training under his belt. Even without Ingebrigtsen in this race, Kerr’s repeat win is far from guaranteed.