2019 Rome DL Diary: Preview of Golden Gala Roma: Lyles or Norman?

EME NEWS (JUN 5, 2019)

Lyles or Norman?
ROME (ITA): Golden Gala Pietro Mennea expects in historical Stadio Olimpico in top summer weather as special highlight the men´s 200 m. Also World leads expected in men´s 5000 m and women 1500 m. Fans will cheer for Filippo Tortu and Gianmarco Tamberi. Special interest connected to comeback from maternity by Barbora Spotakova. Also top quality in women long jump and pole vault could bring the best results of the season.

Short event by event previews

Men

200m - Noah Lyles runs his first 200m of the season and faces Mike Norman and world and European champion Ramil Guliyev who have season's bests of 19.84 and 19.99 respectively. Filippo Tortu looks set to improve substantially on his 20.34 PB.

800m - Nijel Amos will aim for his third big win of the season after victories in Doha (1:44.29) and Nanjing (1:44.38). His principal rivals include Kenyans Wycliffe Kinyamal and Jonathan Kitilit, Poles Adam Kszczot and Marcin Lewandowski and Olympic bronze medallist Clayton Murphy from the United States.

5000m - First sub-13 minute clocking of the season? The line-up features Ethiopians Selemon Barega and Hagos Gebrhiwet and Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei. World leader Yomif Kejelcha (13:04.16) is absent.

110m hurdles - The fastest athletes based on season's bests are Orlando Ortega (13.27) and Sergey Shubenkov (13.28).

400m hurdles (non-DL) - Rai Benjamin is more than one second faster than the rest of the line-up based on season's bests with 47.80. Nobody else has broken 49 seconds yet in 2019.

3000m steeplechase (non-DL) - Kenya's Benjamin Kigen is the only sub-8:10 competitor based on season's best performances (8:08.94).

High jump - European indoor champion Gianmarco Tamberi makes his outdoor season's debut. World bronze medallist Majd Eddin Ghazal has the highest outdoor season's best with 2.31m ahead of three athletes with 2.30m (Eto, Lovett, Przybylko). Asian champion Naoto Tobe also competes.

Triple jump - Pedro Pablo Pichardo makes his season's debut and begins as the favourite. Also watch out for Omar Craddock who has improved to 17.68m this year.

Shot put - USA's Darrell Hill and Poland's Michal Haratyk are the two likely favorites and beneficiaries with Ryan Crouser and Tom Walsh both absent.

Women

100m - Will Dina Asher-Smith make a winning debut over 100m after two Diamond League wins over 200m? She will face double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson and a strong US cohort including English Gardner. The world lead of 10.96 looks set to be improved.

400m - Bahrain's Salwa Eid Naser is looking for back-to-back Diamond Leagues. She is the only entrant who has broken 51 seconds in 2019 (50.65).

1500m - Most of the top names are present including world record-holder Genzebe Dibaba, world-leader Gudaf Tsegay (3:59.57), Shanghai winner Rababe Arafi, European indoor and outdoor champion Laura Muir and world silver medallist Jenny Simpson.

400m hurdles - Olympic champion Dalilah Muhammad is looking for her third win of the season after fast times in Doha (53.61) and Osaka (53.88). European champion Lea Sprunger makes her season's debut.

Long jump - Eleven athletes in the field have outdoor lifetime bests in excess of 6.90m including Caterine Ibarguen (6.93m), European champion Malaika Mihambo (6.99m), Ivana Spanovic (7.10m) and world champion Brittney Reese (7.31m).

Pole vault - Excellent line-up features former Olympic champion and world-leader with 4.91m Jenn Suhr as well as world and Olympic champion Ekaterini Stefanidi and world indoor champion Sandi Morris. European indoor champion Anzhelika Sidorova makes her 2019 outdoor debut.

Javelin - Lyu Huihui will face strong opposition from European champion Christin Hussong and Nikola Ogrodnikova who recently improved to 67.40m. Czech teammate Barbora Spotakova returns to international competition after maternity leave.