Zürich has a rich history of very strong 800m races and the 2019 field looked as strong as any major final. Harun Abda was pacemaker and he took his role perhaps too seriously - he ran the first lap in 48.23 - faster than would be required for a world record. Nijel Amos and Emmanuel Korir were close behind, but Clayton Murphy, Donavan Brazier and Amel Tuka left a big gap of at least two seconds to the leaders rather than risking blowing up on lap two.

On the back straight the race looked like a long distance run with the field totally stretched out. But towards the final curve the leaders started to lose speed and although Amos kept the lead Brazier in particular was moving forward rapidly. In the final straight Brazier stormed forward and none of the leaders could respond. So Brazier ran out winning from way, way back! Amos gritted his teeth for second. Brandon McBride did well to finish third, ahead of Korir and the fast finishing Murphy and Tuka.

Six men in this very fast race finished below 1:44, for only the 13th time in history. Brazier set a new PB and became the 2nd fastest US runner of all time, missing Johnny Gray's US record from 1985 by just 0.10 seconds. Amos ran yet another sub 1:43, the sixth of his career, which puts him level with Joaquim Cruz - only David Rudisha and wilson Kipketer have ran more.

    Result:
 1  Donavan Brazier        USA   1:42.70
 2  Nijel Amos             BOT   1:42.98
 3  Brandon McBride        CAN   1:43.51
 4  Emmanuel Korir         KEN   1:43.69
 5  Clayton Murphy         USA   1:43.94
 6  Amel Tuka              BIH   1:43.99
 7  Ferguson Cheruiyot     KEN   1:45.28
 8  Wycliffe Kinyamal      KEN   1:47.59

There were high hopes for another outstanding result in the London Anniversary 800m. Had Amos not run the fastest time since 2012 recently? The race started out fast indeed. Unfortunately, Nijel Amos dropped out after less than half a lap, with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. Hopefully he will recover in time for the World Championships later this season.

Despite that the race was still fast - after all, a low 1:43 isn't run every day. Ferguson Rotich Cheruiyot is in excellent form recently and he sped away from the field to record a win in his third best time ever. Wycliffe Kinyamal came second in what was his second fastest race ever. Behind them a lot of PB's and SB's could be recorded as well, as nine athletes went below 1:45.

    Result:
 1  Ferguson Rotich Cheruiyot KEN   1:43.14
 2  Wycliffe Kinyamal         KEN   1:43.48
 3  Marcin Lewandowski        POL   1:43.74
 4  Cornelius Tuwei           KEN   1:43.90
 5  Wesley Vázquez            PUR   1:44.42
 6  Jamie Webb                GBR   1:44.52
 7  Adam Kszczot              POL   1:44.61
 8  Emmanuel Korir            KEN   1:44.75
 9  Kyle Langford             GBR   1:44.97
10  Elliot Giles              GBR   1:45.03
11  Andreas Kramer            SWE   1:45.10
 -  Nijel Amos                BOT   DNF

Monaco is a perfect place for middle distance running. Warm, but not too hot. Almost no wind due to the stadium location. Last year Nijel Amos ran a world leading time here only to see Emmanuel Korir go even faster a few days later. This year Amos was determined to raise the bar even further.

The pacemaker (Abda) did even better than planned and reached 400m in an almost too fast 48.70. Amos was right on his shoulder but from the others only Cheruiyot was anywhere near. From 500m on Amos was on his own but that hardly affected his pace. In his typical style he kept going and finished in an astonishing 1:41.89, the first 1:41 ran since the legendary 2012 Olympic final.

Amos is only the third athlete to run 1:41 twice (after Wilson Kipketer and David Rudisha). Behind him Cheruiyot ran a strong PB and moved up to #15 on the all time list. Three more athletes broke 1:44, which indicates how fast this race really was.

    Result:
 1  Nijel Amos             BOT   1:41.89
 2  Ferguson Cheruiyot     KEN   1:42.54
 3  Amel Tuka              BIH   1:43.62
 4  Michael Saruni         KEN   1:43.70
 5  Brandon McBride        CAN   1:43.83
 6  Wesley Vázquez         PUR   1:44.40
 7  Adam Kszczot           POL   1:44.69
 8  Jake Wightman          GBR   1:45.08
 9  Pierre-Ambroise Bosse  FRA   1:45.43
10  Jonathan Kitilit       KEN   1:45.78

Last year Donavan Brazier was quite close to breaking the American indoor record, but at the end of the indoor season Johnny Gray's 1:45.00, set in 1992, still stood. At the Millrose Games Donavan was determined to finally break that mark.

After two laps the pace was breathtaking: 49.70 for the first half of the race. Brazier powered on during lap three but in his wake talented Kenyan Michael Saruni was still within striking distance. And in the final lap Saruni streaked ahead and finished in a fantastic 1:43.98, becoming the second fastest indoor 800m runner ever.

In 1997 Wilson Kipketer set two incredible World Indoor records. All of 22 years later Saruni has become the second athlete to run below 1:44 indoors. Brazier's run was almost as impressive: he did succeed in breaking the American record, by almost six tenths of a second. He is now fifth on the all time world Indoor list.

    Result:
 1  Michael Saruni         KEN   1:43.98
 2  Donavan Brazier        USA   1:44.41
 3  Sam Ellison            USA   1:46.13
 4  Joseph White           USA   1:46.59
 5  Erik Sowinski          USA   1:46.61
 6  Drew Windle            USA   1:49.35