--- title: "Karsten Warholm vs Alison dos Santos at Weltklasse Zürich; Warholm hasn't beaten dos Santos in 2026" sdDatePublished: "2026-08-26T16:15:00Z" source: "https://www.olympics.com/en/news/diamond-league-weltklasse-zurich-2026-karsten-warholm-alison-dos-santos-challenge" topics: - name: "sport" identifier: "medtop:15000000" - name: "athletics" identifier: "medtop:20000827" - name: "sport event" identifier: "medtop:20001108" - name: "competition discipline" identifier: "medtop:20000822" locations: - "Oslo" - "Poland" - "Switzerland" --- Karsten Warholm vs Alison dos Santos at Weltklasse Zürich; Warholm hasn't beaten dos Santos in 2026 Zurich Diamond League athletics 2026: Karsten Warholm relishes Alison dos Santos challenge, Jefferson-Wooden and Alfred set for rematch Diamond League Weltklasse Zürich 2026: Karsten Warholm relishes Alison dos Santos challenge as Norwegian looks for first win of 2026 over Brazilian rival Warholm, the men's 400m world record holder, has yet to defeat dos Santos in four races in 2026. Could that change at the Weltklasse Zürich, and how fast will the race be? Plus, the top women's 100m stars are set for a rematch after Melissa Jefferson-Wooden ended Julien Alfred's winning streak in Silesia. You have to go back to June 2025 to find the last time Karsten Warholm beat Alison dos Santos in a race. And doesn't the Norwegian know it. Brazil's dos Santos has had the upper hand on Warholm all four times they have met on athletics ' Diamond League circuit this season, with Warholm hoping to put an end to that streak on Thursday (27 August) at the Weltklasse Zürich 2026 in Switzerland. "He's beaten me on all occasions," the 30-year-old said on Wednesday in a media conference ahead of the meet. "It's actually been super close, most of them, just nine hundredths in Poland ; what is going to take [to beat him] is a fast race, obviously. "We really, really push each other. He's faster this year and you can see it in his times as well, and I guess to beat him I just need to run faster than him. I don't know what he's going to show up with but I guess it's going to be a close one." Dos Santos has beaten Warholm in Keqiao, Xiamen, Oslo, and Silesia this season, with Warholm's three wins coming in races with the Brazilian absent – at the London Diamond League, Norwegian national championships, and European Championships. Despite that, the Norwegian believes he has had one of the best years of his career. "Now we're pushing each other, it makes you run faster, you know you have to step up," Warholm said. "I think this year is probably one of my best years if you look at the times, but still I'm getting beaten in many more races than ever before. "So I guess I've got to step it up. I'm just 30, so I have many more years ahead of me." Zurich Diamond League Weltklasse 2026: Jefferson-Wooden, Alfred, Broeders-Bol, Duplantis among star names at last regular-season stop on calendar Diamond League Weltklasse Zürich 2026: Full schedule and all results Medal Moment | Tokyo 2020: Athletics Men's 400m Hurdles - K Warholm (NOR) A truly medal-worthy performance from K Warholm. Take a look at one of their greatest moments! Faster times coming in Zurich for the hurdlers? The Weltklasse Zürich is one of the circuit's most traditional and revered meets, one at which Warholm has raced since 2017. The Letzigrund track is also considered a fast one, setting up the stage for another fast race. And Warholm, the first man to break the 46-second barrier over the one-lap hurdles, believes he will continue to add to the list of fast times during his career. "You can't get too satisfied [with what you've done in your career], right?" he asked rhetorically. "I think for me, it's about 'to infinity and beyond'. I'm thinking more about 45.94 (his world record), I'm still very happy that I was the first to go sub-46, and I dream about doing it again. But it's difficult. "It's many things, of course conditions, the setting also. Now in the 400m hurdles, there are three guys, we are three guys that are really, really pushing," he added, referencing dos Santos and reigning world champion Rai Benjamin , who is not in Zurich. "We run sub-47s on the regular, people might get a little spoiled I think. Because it's super hard. "I always want to win, and now it's not enough for me to run 46.9 and win, I need to run sub-46.5, so [these are] different times." Women's sprinters Jefferson-Wooden, Alfred ready for immediate rematch after Silesia It's been not even a full week since Melissa Jefferson-Wooden ended Julien Alfred 's unbeaten streak in 2026 at the Silesia Diamond League , and now they're about to reprise their on-track duel in Zurich. The third-place finisher from Silesia, Sha'Carri Richardson , is also set to be on the startline, as is the newly crowned European champion Amy Hunt . But going against her biggest rivals again is no concern for Jefferson-Wooden, the reigning world champion. "When it's time to go from this place to three days later, four days later, going to this [other] place, I think mentally I've got a good grasp of that," the U.S. star said. "I think it benefits us," she added when asked about the pros and cons of racing her top rivals so often. "I think a lot of times you see in years prior, where the men in the short sprints would wait to the end of the year to do their match-ups, but the women have never been scared to just get on the line and run. "Because at the end of the day, we're going to have to see each other. And I feel like it benefits everyone if you get to see that person more often, you get to see the things you need to work on." And the field is open, a fact both Jefferson-Wooden and Alfred acknowledge. "It's always a great opportunity every single time we get on the track, we just know it's going to be a fast race, or it's just a dogfight if you want to call it that," the Saint Lucian said. Jefferson-Wooden added: "The one thing that I always do, and I feel like it's why I've had the success I've always had, is I never take any competitor for granted. Just like it can be my day, it can be anybody else's day." Athletics | Weltklasse Zürich | Wanda Diamond League | Switzerland