{"id":3742,"date":"2026-06-03T15:54:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T15:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/?p=3742"},"modified":"2026-06-03T15:55:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T15:55:02","slug":"rome-ready-for-a-golden-gala-like-never-before","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/rome-ready-for-a-golden-gala-like-never-before\/","title":{"rendered":"Rome ready for a Golden Gala like never before"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The countdown is over for the\u00a0Golden Gala Pietro Mennea<\/strong>, set to take place on Thursday, June 4, at the Stadio Olimpico in\u00a0Rome<\/strong>. Some of the most awaited stars took center stage during the pre-meeting press conference, building anticipation ahead of the 46th edition of the event, fourth stop of Wanda Diamond League.
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Stefano Mei (Italian Athletics Federation President)<\/strong>: \u201cI believe this can probably be considered the greatest edition of the Golden Gala ever, given the number of medallists and champions who will be competing. Ticket sales confirm that excitement\u2014demand has been very strong, and we are expecting a large crowd. The best welcome we can offer everyone will come tomorrow evening, when the competition begins at the Olympic Stadium.\u201d
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Marco Sicari (Meeting Director)<\/strong>: \u201cI\u2019m proud and it\u2019s a joy for us. The fact that athletes of this level are here in Rome means that we are been doing what we could to have the best show. Now the last cherry on the cake will be the audience, we expect to have a great atmosphere. There are many challenges in such an event, the main one is the calendar at the moment, also a city like Rome that offers every day a lot of different entertainment occasions. Tomorrow in the afternoon a lot of youngsters will compete before the meeting, this is very important. Our main point is to promote athletics in the country and support promotion of athletics worldwide.\u201d
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Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (200m)<\/strong>: \u201cThe main thing is always be healthy, then if there are still some things left on the table is to just build up the best of your potential. Practice in training has been going great, this last month I have been able to really see my improvement not only taking the word of my coach but just being able to see it for myself. I want to stay in whatever moment that I\u2019m in, but once I achieve the things that I have, I tend not to stay in those moments and I think that I got ready for what\u2019s to come. That was my biggest lesson that I\u2019ve learned and I\u2019ve been having fun. I\u2019ve been blessed with a lot of opportunities off the track, I\u2019m grateful and ready to be back to compete. When it comes to starting to appear more in the circuit, I wouldn\u2019t say that I haven\u2019t been looking towards Diamond League final, but I take one meet at time and see where things end up. This will be an off year, I have already a bye into the Ultimate Championship, it allows for me to be able to do things more freely.\u201d
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Julien Alfred (200m)<\/strong>: \u201cIf one year doesn\u2019t go well, especially like last year didn\u2019t go how I wanted to at the World Championships, you work on something different but I just keep everything the same and I\u2019m always going to work hard, no matter what. This season I wanted to open up very early, one month ago, to see what I had to work on before to start the Diamond League but I\u2019m satisfied with where I\u2019m at now and just looking forward to getting better each race. There have been a lot of changes in Saint Lucia, I try to go back at least once a month, being with my family as much as possible because I left since I was 14 to be on my own and chasing my dreams.\u201d
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Noah Lyles (100m)<\/strong>: \u201cThis is my first off season since 2018. I just realise none of you all were running professional in 2018… I\u2019m old! I\u2019m just here to have fun, I went back to Japan recently and I haven\u2019t been in Rome since 2019 then I will go in Ostrava in a few weeks, in July maybe at the Nationals in US. There\u2019s no pressure, I can just run where I want run. It\u2019s not a situation of having to peak at a certain time. It\u2019s just as soon we\u2019re ready to run fast, let\u2019s find a meet and let\u2019s run. I\u2019ve never come to a track meet and not gone all in. If I show up, I\u2019m ready to run. My coach said I\u2019m in 9.85 shape so I can expect 9.85 or better for tomorrow. Me and Jordan Anthony have been having some immaculate training sessions, just to see where we are. I\u2019m debating if this is the best shape I\u2019ve been in my life or if I\u2019m at where I was during the Olympic season but I\u2019m seeing some really good things, having a good training partner definitely helps.\u201d
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Letsile Tebogo (100m)<\/strong>: \u201cThe 2025 was an off year, because I wasn\u2019t at my best mentally and physically, even though we made it into each and every final. But I believe we needed that break, as much as people didn\u2019t know how much did we have to go through for that Olympic gold medal. I believe now until 2028 it\u2019s all about having fun up until we decide when to leave the sport. It\u2019s just to build up the momentum, getting the right start and body form, everything right throghout these Diamond League meetings. At the World Relays in Gaborone we won the 4x400m with a young team and we still have a long way to go as a team. That world record it\u2019s soon going to be broken, we just missed it but shaped how athletes have looked into athletics in Botswana, also the 4x100m relay qualified so everybody is excited.\u201d
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Ryan Crouser (shot put)<\/strong>: \u201cI\u2019m happy to be here, excited to compete against a fantastic field with Leonardo Fabbri, I feel like I\u2019m trending upwards. It\u2019s a fantastic stadium, the most beautiful warm-up track in the world that has so much history. I haven\u2019t had a fantastic start to the year but to see new season\u2019s best is good, just gaining confidence it feels like a refreshing start. I think 24 metres is possible, there are so many variables that go into a throw, you have to be in good shape physically, confident mentally and you need the technique. The pieces can all be there but you have to put them together. Now shot put is at such a high level, the athletes are technically much more proficient than when I started professionally. It\u2019s a competition where anyone can win. It\u2019s been quite a stretch since 2021, even longer than four years. I\u2019ll been doing my honeymoon, we moved to Nashville this past year, also setting up a new training center. Still the focus is 2028 even in 2026, the second half of my career, so the horizon stretches out a litte bit farther.\u201d
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Leonardo Fabbri (shot put)<\/strong>: \u201cThat would be special to throw 23 metres, but I did 22m only in February so I must throw 22m and then chase 23m for the rest of the season. I plan to be in the best shape for the European Championships in Birmingham, just struggling a little bit with technique but hopefully it\u2019s getting better now. I\u2019m living day by day without thinking much about the next Olympics, of course I\u2019m still upset for what happened in Paris but it\u2019s important to be better every day. I feel capable of the European Record. I hope also there will be a space in future for Diamond League in my hometown Florence.\u201d
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Keely Hodgkinson (400m)<\/strong>: \u201cI\u2019m just going to take week by week, splitting the season in two halves with Diamond League until London then the Euros and the Ultimate Championship. It\u2019s a really exciting year, I\u2019m happy with where I am and I\u2019m enjoying everything. I\u2019m grateful to have the opportunity to race some of the best girls in the world so I\u2019m hoping they pull something great out of me. You got to respect everyone, but obviously I\u2019m competitive. I will be using tomorrow as a stimulus of fun to also do something different. I\u2019ve wanted to work on my 400m speed but I\u2019ve been unable to do that with some injuries, so I feel like this is the first time in about two years that I\u2019ve putted an actual bit of 400m block work, it\u2019s a personal challenge but it will help me towards my 800m. I\u2019m really looking forward to 2028 Olympics. I love what I do, if I say one thing I\u2019d probably like to be undefeated in the 800m this year.\u201d
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Nadia Battocletti (5000m)<\/strong>: \u201cIt was though, last week I\u2019ve had flu but now it\u2019s ok. The Golden Gala is an opportunity for me and for all Italian fans, I\u2019m so happy to be here and in healthy shape. Tomorrow the race will be really fast. It\u2019s important to focus any season in one important goal, every season became super busy especially for me, doing cross country, indoor and road races, it\u2019s something difficult but if you have a staff that support you it\u2019s better. My ambition for this year is the European Championships in Birmingham and then the European cross country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The stars speak out on the eve of Thursday night\u2019s spectacle. Lyles: \u201cI can run 9.85\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":3732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"city":[],"class_list":["post-3742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rome-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3744,"href":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3742\/revisions\/3744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3742"},{"taxonomy":"city","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rome.diamondleague.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/city?post=3742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}