Golden Gala, three wins for the Azzurri and Marcell Jacobs returns to shine
Great show at the Olympic Stadium for the 46th edition of the Pietro Mennea Golden Gala, the fourth stage of the Diamond League season. The most eagerly awaited race of the evening, the men’s 100 meters, saw the success of Olympic champion Noah Lyles, who won in 9.88 with a favorable wind of +0.4. Good performance for Marcell Jacobs, fifth at the finish line in 9.99 and once again under the ten-second barrier.
The Roman evening also brought great satisfaction to Italy, which was able to win three victories as it did in the 2023 edition in Florence. In the shot put, Leonardo Fabbri won with 22.14 meters, achieving the fourth success of his Diamond League career. In the triple jump Andy Diaz shone, winning with 17.59 meters, while in the high jump success went to young Matteo Sioli thanks to a measurement of 2.28.
During the course of the evening came four world best seasonal performances and two meeting records. Prominent among them was Slovak Emma Zapletalová’s 52.58 in the 400 hurdles, the third fastest European time ever. World bests of the year also for U.S. Trey Cunningham in the 110 hurdles with 12.98 and for Sri Lankan javelinist Ramesh Tharanga Pathirage, author of an extraordinary 92.62 meters that is worth the eighth world measure ever.
In the women’s 5,000 meters Nadia Battocletti finished 13th in 14:40.05, conditioned by physical problems in recent weeks. Victory went to Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw, who with 14:18.41 signed the season’s best world performance.
Among other notable results, in the women’s 200 meters Olympic 100 champion Julien Alfred got the better of world champion Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who was second in 22.17, in 21.93. In the women’s 400 meters was won by Norway’s Henriette Jaeger in 49.60, while Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson finished seventh.
In the 800 meters victory went to France’s Gabriel Tual in 1:43.98, with Italy’s Francesco Pernici starring in an excellent third place. The level of the pole vault competition was also very high, won by Britain’s Molly Caudery in a competition that saw three athletes exceed 4.80 meters, the same height reached by Australia’s Nina Kennedy and Switzerland’s Angelica Moser.
In the men’s long jump, Bulgarian Bozhidar Saraboyukov won with 8.26 meters, just two centimeters ahead of Greek Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou. In the women’s 1,500 meters was won by Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell in 3:58.63, while the 100 hurdles rewarded Jamaica’s Megan Simmonds, who won in 12.50.
