The Olympic champion against the world champion (Camacho Quinn vs Ali) in the 100m hurdles, the bronze medallist of the amazing Tokyo Olympic final Femke Bol in the women’s 400 metres hurdles. At the 42nd edition of the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea there are all-women hurdles races with two star-studded competitions.
Women’s 100 metres hurdles
Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho Quinn is the reigning Olympic champion, the world seasonal leader and meeting record holder in the women’s 100 metres hurdles with 12.38 in Florence one year ago. She clocked the fourth fastest time in history with her PB of 12.26 set in the Olympic semifinal in Tokyo, missing the world record by 0.06. She is set to “dance” through the hurdles on the track of the Olympic Stadium, in the build-up to the World Championship in Eugene, in a preview of the world championship final in Eugene against reigning world champion Nia Ali, who has come back at a very high-level clocking 12.59 this year after her third maternity leave, for her delight and that of her partner André De Grasse. Tokyo olympic bronze medallist Megan Tapper from Jamaica also lines up in Rome. The other Tokyo olympic finalists in the field are Dutchwoman Nadine Visser (fifth placer, and first in Rome in 2020) and Jamaica’s Britany Anderson (eighth). The line-up is rounded by 21-year-old world indoor champion Cyrena Samba Mayela from France, Beijing 2015 world champion Danielle Williams, who holds a lifetime best of 12.32, and Italian record holder Luminosa Bogliolo.
Women’s 400 metres hurdles
Femke Bol showed her class in Ostrava last Tuesday breaking the world all-time best in the 300 metres hurdles clocking a sensational 36.86. She smashed the previous best time held for nine years by Czech hurdler Zuzana Hejnova with 38.16. If this crono is projected on the 400 metres, it opens even more promising scenarios for Femke Bol, the Olympic bronze medallist with the European record of 52.03 in the dream final in Japan behind McLaughlin (51.46) and Muhammad (51.58). The 22-year-old Dutch hurdler will run the 400m hurdles at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, 12 months after her win in the Italian meeting of the Diamond League in Florence. The reigning Diamond League champion will renew her rival against three of the athletes, whom she beat in Tokyo: Jamaica’s Janieve Russell, who finished fourth in the 400m hurdles before winning the Olympic bronze medal in the 4x400 relay and the world indoor bronze medal with the relay this year and Ukrainian hurdlers Anna Ryzhykova (fifth) and Viktoriya Tkachuk (sixth). The line-up also features US hurdler Shamier Little, who clocked a lifetime best of 52.39 last season, and Italian specialist Ayomide Folorunso.
