How many stars at the Golden Gala night on June 2nd! In the press conference in Florence in which a super women's long jump competition was made official, the announcement of the participation of three top-level American athletes also arrived: the 110hs World champion Grant Holloway, the young champion of sprint Erriyon Knighton and two-time World gold medallist in the shot put Joe Kovacs.
HOLLOWAY - For the first time, the phenomenon of hurdles Grant Holloway, World record holder of the 60hs (7.29 in Madrid in 2021 and in Belgrade in 2022) and second man of all-time list in the 110hs running in 12.81 two years ago in Eugene, just one cent away from Aries Merritt's World record in 2012, will be competing in Italy. After a dazzling youth career at the University of Florida, the 25-year-old born in Virginia, a former American football player, confirmed his class by winning two World titles (Doha 2019, Eugene 2022) and the World indoor gold medal (Belgrade 2022). Holloway was also silver at the Tokyo Olympics. He will run on the Ridolfi track in Florence where two years ago Jamaican Omar McLeod equalled Allen Johnson's Golden Gala meeting record (13.01 in 1999).
KNIGHTON - Erriyon Knighton is also a precocious talent, just nineteen and already among the most sensational sprinters in the world, with a bright future. The amazing 19.49 of last season says it all for him, the fifth man in 200m history: a result which, although not ratified as the World U20 record, was followed by the 19.69 shown in Eugene at the US Championships, proving that no 'teen' had ever run so fast. Knighton, from Tampa, Florida, can already be proud of the bronze medal at the World Championships in Oregon22 (youngest world medalist ever in the 200 metres), and finished one step away from the podium at Tokyo Olympics (fourth) where he participated at just 17 years of age, as the youngest man in US athletics at the Olympics since 1964. Also for him it is a debut at the Golden Gala, named after Pietro Mennea, who is pure legend of the 200 metres race.
KOVACS - For Joe Kovacs it is a return to the Golden Gala one year after the victory at the Olimpico in Rome with 21,85. Since then, he has another World silver medal (Eugene) and the sweet presence of his twins born in October in his life. He never missed the podium in the last four editions of the World Championships (two golds in Beijing and Doha, silvers in London and, indeed, Eugene) and had the silver medal around his neck in the last two Olympics in Rio and Tokyo. The Diamond League, for the 33-year-old from Pennsylvania, especially remembers the amazing 23,23 in the final in Zurich last September, second shot putter on the all-time lists (14 centimetres from Ryan Crouser), the fourth thrower over twenty-three metres in history of this discipline.
