ATHLETICS:NO ATHLETE can consider themselves truly world-class until they're invited to the Weltklasse. The famous Zurich meeting prides itself on replicating the World or Olympic finals and for that reason both David Gillick and Derval O'Rourke will once again get to mix it with the world's top athletes at the sold-out Letzigrund Stadium this evening.

It’s the next-to-last stop in the IAAF Golden League, and while neither Gillick nor O’Rourke will be thinking about the €700,000 jackpot, they get the chance to back-up the rewards of last week’s World Championships in Berlin with the guarantee of another high-quality race, and decent appearance money to go with it. It’s the richest meeting on the circuit and nearly always the best.

The Weltklasse – which translates as “world class” – has been the scene of 24 world records since 1928, including the men’s 400 metres, when in 1988 the American Butch Reynolds ran 43.29 seconds, which stood for 11 years until Michael Johnson ran his 43.18. While that mark is unlikely to be threatened this evening, Gillick will be aiming to improve his Irish record of 44.77 seconds.

Five of the eight finalists from Berlin, including Gillick, start this evening, which means the athletes to beat will again be the Americans LaShawn Merritt and Jeremy Wariner – who went one-two in Berlin. Gillick is the only European and the least of his ambitions will be to equal his sixth-place finish in Berlin.

For O’Rourke, the 100 metres hurdles is also as stacked as Berlin, with seven of the eight finalists. Again the Irish record of 12.67 seconds she ran to claim fourth in Berlin will the target – or perhaps beat one of the three athletes that finished ahead of her in Berlin.

All 34,000 tickets sold out weeks ago, the big attraction being of course Usain Bolt. The Jamaican runs the 100 metres but no one is truly expecting him to challenge the 9.58 world record he ran in Berlin. The American Tyson Gay is ruled out because of injury.

Only four athletes remain in the hunt for the €700,000 jackpot. Two of the contenders, Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele (5,000/10,000 metres) and America’s Sanya Richards (400 metres) won gold in Berlin, but Jamaica’s Kerron Stewart only won silver in the 100 metres, and Russia’s Yelena Isinbayeva failed to clear any height in the pole vault.