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GOLDEN GALA PIETRO MENNEA 2026 | ENTRY LISTS AND TIMETABLE
With seven days to go before the magical evening at Rome’s Olympic Stadium, the official entry lists for the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea (Thursday, June 4), the fourth stop of the Wanda Diamond League, have been released. The meeting will feature more than 40 Olympic or world champions and over 80 global medallists.
MEN
On the men’s side, the highlight is the 100 metres, featuring the last two Olympic champions, American Noah Lyles and Italian Marcell Jacobs, alongside Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo (Botswana), the last two world indoor 60m champions (American Jordan Anthony and Britain’s Jeremiah Azu), as well as African sprint stars Ferdinand Omanyala (Kenya) and Akani Simbine (South Africa). In the 800 metres, the spotlight will be on Donavan Brazier (USA) and Portugal’s Isaac Nader, who arrives as the reigning world champion over 1500 metres. In the 110m hurdles, American Jamal Britt, winner of the first two Wanda Diamond League 2026 legs, is entered.
Show is guaranteed in the field events. In the long jump (where Mattia Furlani is unlikely to compete, though he is expected to receive a big hug from the Olympic Stadium crowd) two-time Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou (Greece) will face rising Bulgarian talent Bozhidar Saraboyukov, world indoor champion Gerson Baldé (Portugal), and Jamaicans Wayne Pinnock and Tajay Gayle. The triple jump will feature two-time world indoor champion Andy Diaz (Italy), Cuba’s Lazaro Martinez, and Jamaica’s Jordan Scott. In the high jump, world indoor champion Oleh Doroshchuk (Ukraine) has a strong chance of victory in a competition marked by the withdrawals of Hamish Kerr and Woo Sang-hyeok.
The throwing events are equally outstanding. The shot put includes the very best in the world, from three-time Olympic champion Ryan Crouser (USA) to multiple medallists Joe Kovacs (USA) and Tom Walsh (New Zealand), as well as Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri. In the javelin throw, two Olympic champions will compete: Keshorn Walcott from Trinidad and Tobago and Thomas Röhler from Germany, along with two world champions such as Anderson Peters from Grenada and Julius Yego from Kenya.
WOMEN
The women’s 200 metres looks like an Olympic final. Reigning world champion over 100m, 200m, and 4x100m, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (USA) will go head-to-head with Olympic 100m champion Julien Alfred (Saint Lucia), joined by Britain’s Amy Hunt and Dina Asher-Smith, as well as American Anavia Battle. In the 400 metres, all eyes will be on Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson, the 800m Olympic champion and world indoor record holder. However, victory is far from guaranteed given the presence of rivals such as Lieke Klaver (Netherlands), Natalia Bukowiecka (Poland), Aaliyah Butler (USA), Amber Anning (Great Britain), and Czech world indoor champion Lurdes Gloria Manuel.
There is also a world indoor champion in the 1500 meters: Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell, who will face Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom, winner of the opening Diamond League meeting in Shanghai/Keqiao. At 5000 meters, the standing ovation inside the Olympic Stadium will be reserved for local hero Nadia Battocletti, world indoor champion over 3000m and Olympic and world silver medallist over 10,000m. Her main challengers include steeplechase specialist Yinfred Yavi (Bahrain), who narrowly missed the world record in Rome two years ago, and Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, relevant names include Jamaica’s Danielle Williams, American Kendra Harrison, European stars Nadine Visser (Netherlands), Pia Skrzyszowska (Poland), and France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela. In the 400m hurdles, the American trio of Dalilah Muhammad, Anna Cockrell, and Jasmine Jones is expected to compete. The pole vault will feature a showdown between Olympic champion Nina Kennedy (Australia), American Sandi Morris, and Britain’s Molly Caudery.