Eight gold medallists from the Olympic Games in Paris will head to Rome for the Golden Gala on Friday (30) as the Italian capital hosts the 13th Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season.
The octet of Olympic champions includes world record-holders Faith Kipyegon and Ryan Crouser, sprinter Letsile Tebogo of Botswana, Bahraini steeplechaser Winfred Yavi, Jamaican discus thrower Roje Stona, US sprint hurdler Masai Russell, Australian pole vaulter Nina Kennedy and US long jumper Tara Davis-Woodhall.
Kipyegon will return to the meeting where she set her first world 1500m record, though this year’s edition has returned to its traditional home in Rome as opposed to Florence. The Kenyan won her third successive Olympic 1500m title in Paris, breaking her own Games record with 3:51.29, just two seconds shy of the world record of 3:49.04 she set earlier this year at the Diamond League meeting in Paris.
She’ll be joined in Rome by the Australian who followed her home in both her world record run and at the Olympic Games, Jess Hull. World indoor champion Freweyni Hailu and fellow Ethiopian Birke Haylom are also in the field, while Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Nadia Battocletti steps down in distance.
All three Olympic medallists will reunite in the women’s steeplechase as Yavi, the world and Olympic champion, takes on Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai and Kenya’s Faith Cherotich. The meeting record of 9:00.71 looks vulnerable.
The men’s 5000m is of a similarly high standard as five of the top six finishers from the Olympic final will take to the start line. Kenya’s Ronald Kwemoi and USA’s Grant Fisher, the Olympic silver and bronze medallists respectively, take on world leader Hagos Gebrhiwet, European 10,000m champion Dominic Lobalu, Ethiopian teenager Biniam Mehary, Canada’s Mohammed Ahmed and Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha.
Thompson vs Tebogo
Kishane Thompson missed out on the coveted Olympic 100m crown by just five thousandths of a second. The Jamaican, who clocked a world-leading 9.77 earlier this year, had hoped to make his post-Games return at the recent Diamond League meeting in Silesia, but was a non-starter after feeling a bit of tightness during warm-up.
He will be back in action in Rome, though, and will take on Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo, who won the 200m title in Paris in an African record of 19.46 after placing sixth in the 100m final in a national record of 9.86. 2022 world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Fred Kerley is also in the line-up, as is 2021 Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs, world indoor champion Christian Coleman, world indoor bronze medallist Ackeem Blake and African record-holder Ferdinand Omanyala.
Jamaican record-holder Ackera Nugent got the better of Olympic champion Masai Russell in Silesia last weekend, and they’ll renew their rivalry in the women’s 100m hurdles in Rome this week. It won’t be just a two-woman race, though, as the line-up also features Olympic silver medallist Cyrena Samba-Mayela, USA’s Alaysha Johnson, Swiss record-holder Ditaji Kambundji, former world record-holder Kendra Harrison and Nadine Visser of the Netherlands.
Anna Cockrell, who climbed to fourth on the world all-time list to claim silver at the Paris Olympics, leads the women’s 400m hurdles field in Rome. She takes on compatriot and two-time world medallist Shamier Little, as well as Jamaican Olympic finalists Rushell Clayton and Shiann Salmon.
In the men’s 400m, Olympic bronze medallist Muzala Samukonga will take on the two men who finished immediately behind him in the Olympic final: 2022 world indoor champion Jereem Richards and 2012 Olympic champion Kirani James. All three finished inside 43 seconds in Paris.
Another Olympic bronze medallist, USA’s Brittany Brown, leads the field in the women’s 200m. She’ll face the European gold and silver medallists, Mujinga Kambundji and Daryll Neita.
Stona set for Diamond League debut
It is perhaps a measure of how big a surprise his Olympic triumph was that Jamaica’s Roje Stona has never competed at a Diamond League meeting. The 25-year-old, who threw a PB of 70.00m to win the men’s discus in Paris, will become the first track and field athlete in history to make their Diamond League debut after winning Olympic gold.
He will take on several of the event’s big guns in the form of world record-holder Mykolas Alekna, 2022 world champion Kristian Ceh, Olympic bronze medallist Matthew Denny and world champion Daniel Stahl.
Meanwhile Ryan Crouser, who happens to be Stona’s coach, lines up in the men’s shot put. The three-time Olympic champion and world record-holder will be looking to avenge his recent defeat at the hands of Joe Kovacs in Silesia. European champion Leonardo Fabbri and Olympic bronze medallist Rajindra Campbell are also in the field.
Olympic champions Nina Kennedy and Tara Davis-Woodhall headline the women’s jumping events. Kennedy features in a pole vault contest alongside Olympic bronze medallist Alysha Newman and European champion Angelica Moser.
Davis-Woodhall, meanwhile, will compete in the long jump alongside her US teammate who took bronze in Paris, Jasmine Moore.
Andy Diaz is one of several leading Italian athletes hoping to produce a crowd-pleasing victory for the home fans on Friday. The Olympic bronze medallist takes on world champion Hugues Fabrice Zango in the triple jump.
European champion Gianmarco Tamberi, meanwhile, will face 2022 world indoor champion Woo Sanghyeok and Italy’s Stefano Sottile in the men’s high jump.
Another Italian European champion, Lorenzo Simonelli, features in the men’s 110m hurdles alongside USA’s Cordell Tinch, Spain’s Enrique Llopis, France’s Sasha Zhoya and Jamaica’s Orlando Bennett.