The trio were amongst a list of 12 London 2012 Olympic Games medallists, 32 IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015 medal winners and 19 IAAF World Indoor Championships Portland 2016 top-three finishers unveiled for this year’s Golden Gala Pietro Mennea 2016 meeting in the Italian capital.
Kemboi will face his compatriot Conseslus Kipruto, Brimin Kipruto and 2015 Diamond Race winner Jairus Birech, the top four finishers in Beijing last August.
Ibarguen and Schwanitz are just two of six female world champiosn from Beijing announced on Tuesday, the others being Czech Republic’s 400m hurdler Zuzana Hejnova, German javelin thrower Katharina Molitor – who will be challenged by the two-time Olympic champion and world record holder Barbora Spotakova, from Czech Republic – 800m gold medallist Maryna Arzamasava, from Belarus, and Ethiopia’s 5000m champion Almaz Ayana, who will contest the 3000m.
The men’s discus sees Germany’s 2012 Olympic champion Robert Harting again face his regualr rival, Poland’s reigning world champion Piotr Malachowski.
In the men’s high jump field, the presence of local star and 2016 world indoor champion Gianmarco Tamberi has already been announced but his opponents will include 2013 world champion Bogdan Bondarenko and Great Britain’s world indoor championships silver medallist Robbie Grabarz.
Like Tamberi, the 2015 400m world champion Wayde van Niekerk has already been announced but the South African now knows his rivals will include Dominican Republic’s 2012 Olympic Games silver medallist Luguelín Santos and the man he succeeded as the African record holder, Isaac Makwala from Botswana.
An extended list of the confirmed athletes for the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome on 2 June can be found here.
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Golden Gala Pietro Mennea