Tamberi headlines Rome’s Golden Gala seeking first victory in the Eternal City

Italian athletics sensation Gianmarco Tamberi leads a star-studded field of 16 Olympic champions from Tokyo at the prestigious Golden Gala Pietro Mennea meeting in Rome.

The popular and colorful Italian Olympic high jump champion seeks his first victory in the Italian capital, competing in a nine-athlete field on Thursday evening at Stadio Olimpico. However, the men’s high jump will move forward without Tamberi’s fellow Olympic gold medalist and close friend Mutaz Barshim, who withdrew from competition due to an undisclosed physical ailment.

“This is one of the most important competitions for me, of course because we are in Rome,” Tamberi said at a Wednesday news conference in Rome. “I have never won at Golden Gala, but I feel good and I want to jump high here in front of my crowd.”

Tamberi, who turned 30 last week, expressed disappointment considering that he will not jump head-to-head with his fellow Olympic champion Barshim.

“I’m so sorry for him – I knew he wasn’t 100-percent when we spoke about ten days,” Tamberi said. “He told me he had this problem, but he never doubted coming to Rome. Then in the end, he didn’t solve the problem and couldn’t travel to Italy to compete.

“I would have been really happy to have him here and knew that people would have loved to see us jump together. But, of course, health is most important and I wish him a quick recovery. And we will make a show again in Eugene, I’m sure.”

Tamberi believes the home nation fans will help elevate him to greater heights.

“The Italian crowd has always been amazing with me and I look forward to jump high in front of the Curva Sud,” he said, referring to Rome’s football fans that traditionally occupy the south section of the stadium, and also where the high jump will proceed on Thursday evening.

“I think this is my fifth time in the Golden Gala and I’ve never won – I always perform well, jumping 2.28, 2.30, 2.33, and always get second or third. I hope this will be the time,” he said.

Tamberi is striving to rebound following a defeat by Barshim and an early exit at his last Diamond League competition in Doha on the Qatarian athlete’s home track on May 13. However, the Italian was victorious at the Ostrava Golden Spike meeting on May 31st, achieving a season best leap of 2.30m.

Diamond League finale for Felix?

The women’s 200 meters shapes up to be the marquee event of the evening going off under the lights at 21:08. The most decorated athlete in track and field history Allyson Felix will go stride-for-stride with Jamaican Tokyo 2020 triple gold medalist Elaine Thompson-Herah, Bahamas’ 400-meter double Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo and British world champion Dina Asher Smith.

In her farewell season, amid final tune-ups for next month’s world championships in Eugene, Oregon, the 36-year-old, seven-time Olympic champion Felix notes that Rome might be her Diamond League swan song.

“I’m not exactly sure, but I think it’s very likely that this will be my last Diamond League and I will have a race after world championships that will culminate everything for me,” Felix revealed to reporters on Wednesday morning.

“I’m so grateful for everything - I’m trying to enjoy every competition, it is very special for me,” she added. “The fact that I’m finishing my experience on the track doesn’t mean I am finishing my fight for women. Tomorrow, I’ll do the best that I can.”

Asher Smith praised Felix for her immense contributions to the sport and women athletes in general.

“She’s an absolute legend and has been an icon of grace and dignity, always performing so well and so consistent,” Asher Smith said. “I’ve been a big fan of hers for years and years, and remember the first time I raced against her in 2015 in Birmingham. It was one of my (best) moments.

“She has done so much for us and our sport and particularly everything to do with paternity – I could have the feasible option to go and have a child and come back and not stress whether my whole career will still be the same,” Asher Smith said, referring to Felix trailblazing, taking a hiatus from competition in 2018 to give birth to a daughter in November 2018.

Felix underwent an emergency C-section at 32 weeks due to severe pre-eclampsia that threatened the lives of her and her child and then returned to competition in July 2019.

“It will be a privilege to run against her tomorrow,” Asher Smith said.

Felix enters the meeting fresh off a second place finish in the women’s 200m event at the Ostrava Golden Spike on June 1. The American superstar clocked a time of 22.78 seconds, half a second behind Niger’s Aminatou Seyni, who set a personal and national record of 22.21.

Other marquee names and Olympic medalists competing in the Rome field include Kirani James (Grenada), Kenny Bednarek (USA), Athing Mu (USA), Fred Kerley (USA), Katie Nageotte (USA), Joe Kovacs (USA), Mo Ahmed (Canada), Femke Bol (Netherlands), Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Puerto Rico), Laura Muir (Great Britain), Selemon Barega (Ethiopia), and Italian 4x100m gold medalists Filippo Tortu, Fausto Desalu, and Lorenzo Patta.

Italy’s 100-meter Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs will not compete due to a disorder to his gluteal muscles sustained at his May 23rd season opener in Savona. The ailment is regarded as a 1st degree distraction-elongation.

The Golden Gala evening program officially opens with the men’s discus at 18:30 and concludes with the men’s 100 meters under the lights at 21:52.

The 42nd edition of the Golden Gala is the fifth stop of the 13-event Wanda Diamond League series and an important tune-up for many top athletes ahead of next month’s world championships in Eugene, Oregon, the first-ever to be contested in the United States.

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