Three big names of international athletics will be in the spotlight at the fifth leg of the 2016 IAAF Diamond League: Italian Gianmarco Tamberi, world indoor gold medallist in the high jump, long jump olympic champion Greg Rutherford, and 400m world champion Wayde van Niekerk. It will be the first competition for “Gimbo” Tamberi on Italian soil after his world indoor gold medal in Portland. The National record holder (2.38m indoors and 2.37m outdoors) is ready to thrill the crowd packing the South stand of the Rome Olympic Stadium with his jumps and his overwhelming energy. The Golden Gala meeting director Luigi D’Onofrio is at work to offer to “mister halfshave” a star-studded field with world class rivals.
The spotlight will be also on the long jump runway where Great Britain’s Greg Rutherford (PB 8.51m) is the most eagerly-awaited star in front of the Tevere Stand. He clinched the magic hat-trick of titles at the Olympic Games, the European Championships and the World Championships between 2012 and 2015.
Twenty-three South African star Wayde van Niekerk has already made history after achieving three unprecedented results. He is the only sprinter who has run the 100m under 10 seconds (9.98), the 200m (19.94) and the 400m under 44 seconds when he won the most prestigious title of his career at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing setting the fourth fastest time in history with 43.48.
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Golden Gala Pietro Mennea