Three olympic champions for as many competitions: Tamberi in the high jump, Mihambo in the long jump, Nageotte in the pole vault. The king and the queens of these disciplines can shine at the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea on 9th June at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, against world-class opponents in the build up to the World Championships in Eugene.
Men’s high jump
Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi described it as “the event of the year” apart from the World Championships in Eugene. The Golden Gala Pietro Mennea is the home event for “Halfshave” in front of the Italian crowd, who is looking forward to cheer for him after his triumph in Tokyo. The clash with his friend and rival Mutaz Barshim will not take place, as the star from Qatar has been sidelined by a physical problem, but the high jump remains a high-quality competition, as it features Diamond League Champion Gianmarco Tamberi, who jumped 2.34m in Zurich last September after clearing 2.37m in Tokyo and other high-level jumpers like Andriy Protsenko from the Ukraine, long jumper and high jumper JuVaughn Harrison from the United States, Brandon Starc from Australia, world indoor silver medallist Loic Gasch from Switzerland, Django Lovett from Canada, and world under 20 champion Yonathan Kapitolnik from Israel, Norbert Kobielski from Poland and Italian high jumper Marco Fassinotti. The recent 2.30m jumps produced by Tamberi and Kapitolnik are the best heights set during this outdoor season among the entrants. It’s just one cm off the 2.31m height achieved by Tamberi, when he won the world indoor bronze medal in Belgrade last March. The Tokyo Olympic gold medallist has never won at the Golden Gala and is chasing his first win in the Italian meeting: he finished third in 2021 in Florence (2.33m), second in 2020 in the Olympic Stadium (2.27m) behind Protsenko, fourth in 2019 (2.28m) and third in 2016 (2.30m).
Women’s pole vault
The pole vault has never been an easy event at the Olympic Stadium, the venue of four world records (two set by Vigneron, one by Bubka, one by Isinbaeva) and the world outdoor best by Armand Duplantis (6.15m in 2020). Olympic champion Katie Nageotte, who set her PB of 4.95m last season in Eugene, will take on Rio 2016 Olympic champion Katerina Stefanidi from Greece, world indoor champion Sandi Morris from the United States, who joined the exclusive 5.00m club (only four women in history have cleared this limit) and Olympic bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw. All these jumpers competed in Rabat last Sunday. World indoor bronze medallist Tina Sutej from Slovenia, Robeilys Peinado from Venezuela, Angelica Moser from Switzerland and Italian vaulters Roberta Bruni and Elisa Molinarolo will search a favourable evening.
Women’s long jump
Olympic and world champion Malaika Mihambo set one of the best performances of her career with 7.07m in Rome in the 2019 edition of the Golden Gala. This year the German long jumper (PB 7.30m in Doha in 2019) leads the world seasonal list with her jump of 7.09m in the Birmingham Diamond League meeting. Sweden’s Khaddi Sagnia is getting closer to the 7.00 metres barrier and jumped 6.95m in Eugene. She will try to jump over the sought-after 7 metres barrier. The most eagerly awaited athlete in the field is world silver medallist Maryna Bekh Romanchuk, who also won the world indoor silver medal in the triple jump. World Indoor gold medallist Ivana Vuleta has pulled out of the meeting. The line-up also features Great Britain’s Jazmyn Sawyers, US Quanesha Burks, Chantel Malone from British Virgin Islands, Canada’s Christabel Nettey and world indoor under 20 record holder Larissa Iapichino from Italy.
