The Wanda Diamond League touches down in Europe for the first time this season on Friday as the world’s best athletes head to Rome for the fifth leg of the Road to the Final. Here are five things to look out for at the Pietro Mennea Golden Gala:
Tamberi in town
The Stadio Olimpico always delivers one of the best atmospheres in global athletics, and never more so than when Gianmarco Tamberi is in town. Italy’s own half-bearded high jump legend returns to Diamond League action on home soil this Friday, a late addition to the startlists which will have delighted his thousands of fans in the Italian capital. Having won his third Diamond Trophy in Brussels last September, the 2021 Olympic champion heads into 2025 hoping to defend both his world and Diamond League titles. He also has unfinished business at the Golden Gala, having never won at his home Diamond League meeting in six attempts so far. Yet win or lose, the Italian will have an entire curva of adoring fans behind him when he takes on the likes of Hamish Kerr and Sanghyeok Woo this Friday.
First Rome win for Fabbri?
Another reigning Diamond League champion hoping for some home advantage in Rome is Leonardo Fabbri. The Italian shot put star snatched his first Diamond League title in Brussels with a personal best of 22.98m in Brussels last year and is now setting his sights on the elusive 23-metre barrier. After a disappointing eighth place at his first appearance of the season in Rabat last month, Fabbri will be hoping to bounce back when he goes up against Payton Otterdahl, Joe Kovacs, Tom Walsh and Rajindra Campbell this weekend. Like Tamberi, he is also eyeing a first win in Rome. Though he triumphed at the Golden Gala in his hometown of Florence back in 2023, Fabbri is still yet to claim a Diamond League win at the Stadio Olimpico.
Chebet chasing world records
Can anyone stop Beatrice Chebet? Last season, it seemed as if the Kenyan distance star was operating on another plane as she swept to two Olympic medals, the 10,000m world record and the 5000m Diamond League title. This season has been no different, with Chebet winning the 3000m at the season opener in Xiamen before becoming the second-fastest woman in history with an African and Diamond League record of 8:11.56 in Rabat. She insisted after that race that “the world record is possible”, and though she was technically talking about the 3000m, few would put it past her over five kilometres either. In Rome, she goes up against Ethiopian rival Gudaf Tsegay, who set the current 5000m world record of 14:00.12 at the Diamond League Final in Eugene two years ago.
Three in three for Tinch?
US 110m hurdles star Cordell Tinch has hit the form of his life in 2025, establishing himself early on as the man to beat in one of athletics’ most competitive disciplines. Having operated in the shadow of his more decorated compatriots such as Grant Holloway and Daniel Roberts in recent years, Tinch has made this season about him thanks to an explosive start to his Diamond League campaign. Having won at the season opener in Xiamen, the American then clocked a PB of 12.87 in Keqiao to become the fourth-fastest man in history. He will be hoping to make it three in three in Rome, where he takes on Roberts, Omar McLeod, Enrique Llopis and Lorenzo Simonelli.
Lift-off for Pérez-Hernández
With world record holder and Olympic champion Yulimar Rojas out injured, Cuba’s Leyanis Pérez Hernández emphatically stepped into the power vacuum last season to establish herself as the next big thing in the women’s triple jump. The Cuban star stormed to four wins en route to her first Diamond League title in 2024, with a second-place finish in Silesia the only blemish on an otherwise perfect season. The 23-year-old returns to action in Rome, making the first appearance of her title defence and hoping to consolidate her status as world number one and Rojas’ natural heir.
