by Alfonz Juck
ROME (ITA, Jun 6): Two meeting records, two world leads and three outdoor leads have been achieved during the 45th Golden Gala Pietro Mennea Diamond League at Stadio Olimpico. Beatrice Chebet clocked the second fastest 5000m time ever of 14:03.69, and Trayvon Bromell secured his first DL win since the 2022 DL Final in Zurich in a World lead. Amazing men’s 1500m with all sixteen finishers under Tokyo standard. Premier DL wins for Sarah Healy, Andrenette Knight and Liam Adcock, 17th DL title for Valarie Allman and 12th for Sandi Morris.
Event by event reviews
Women
200m: Third DL crown of the season for Battle in 22.53 (0.8) from Hunt (22.67).
1500m: Healy challenged the rest of the field and won her debut DL win in 3:59.17 from Billings (3:59.24 PB) and Caldwell (3:59.32 PB).
5000m: Chebet in 14:03.69 WL/MR/NR (8:32.20 in the 3000m enroute), second fastest time ever; F.Hailu second (14:19.33 PB), Battocletti third (14:23.15 EL/NR), top 14 under Tokyo standard.
400m H: A. Knight confirmed her shape with a season best of 53.67 and premiere DL title, clearly ahead of Folorunso (54.21).
Pole Vault: Morris repeated her last DL title (and twelfth overall) from Rome’22 clearing 475 and 480, outdoor WL, on third attempt, ahead of Bruni and Leon, jointly second (465).
Triple Jump: Ricketts in lead from first series with an outdoor world lead of 14.64 (-0.7) over Pérez Hernández with just one successful attempt of 14.46 (-0.8) in her summer opener.
Discus: Allman secured her third DL title of the season with 69.21 MR in fifth attempt, ahead of Pérez (66.63) and van Klinken (65.77).
Men
100m: Bromell in great form, world lead of 9.84 (1.1), clear win surprisingly over Eseme (9.99), and first DL win since 2022 DL final.
400m: Powerful finish of Hall (44.22) who defeated Nene (44.23) on the finish line.
1500m: Excellent, and fast in depth, race even without the biggest stars, delivered all sixteen finishers under Tokyo standard; Habz winning in finish in his second fastest time ever of 3:29.72 from T.Cheruiyot (3:29.75); 9 of finishers with lifetime bests including NRs for Germany (Farken fourth in 3:30.80) and Sweden (Pihlström 3:30.87).
110m H: Joseph with 13.131 (0.9) in photo-finish over Tinch (13.134).
High Jump: Woo with outdoor world lead of 232 ahead of Doroshchuk (230). Tamberi entertained the crowd but managed only 216.
Long Jump: Decided in the final round with Adcock leaping to 834 (-0.2) PB and debut DL win, over Furlani 813 (-0.5) and Tentoglou 810 (-0.3) who was leading going into final 3.
Shot put: Walsh from first series (21.89) ahead of Weir (21.67).
