It will be a great athletics show. It’s thirty days until the 35th edition of the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea on Thursday 4th June at the Olympic Stadium in Rome. It will be the fourth leg of the 2015 IAAF Diamond League. The meeting was presented during a press conference attended by the CONI President Giovanni Malagò, the FIDAL President Alfio Giomi. A significant part of the starting lists was announced today during the press conference. The line-up confirms once again the very high-quality of the meeting. No less than 18 London 2012 Olympic medallists and 27 Moscow 2013 World Championships have been already announced. These figures are inevitably expected to rise when the starting lists will be completed. The women’s high jump European Indoor silver medallist Alessia Trost was the special guest during the press conference today together with European Marathon champion Daniele Meucci who received the “Bruno Zauli” Award.
LAVILLENIE IS THE STAR, TAMGHO IN THE TRIPLE JUMP, GATLIN WILL BE BIDDING TO WIN FOR THE THIRD TIME IN ROME - The eagerly-awaited star of the meeting is pole vault Olympic champion and World record holder Renaud Lavillenie who will defy the gravity in the meeting which was highlighted by the epic battle between Sergey Bubka and Thierry Vigneron in 1984. The 28-year-old French player, who dominated all the first five editions of the Diamond League, will clash against Pole Pawel Wojciechowski and German Raphael Holzdeppe, who stole the show from “le Roi” at the last two editions of the IAAF World Championships. World champion and World indoor record holder Teddy Tamgho, third man in history able to jump over the 18m barrier with 18.04m in 2013. His main rivalry will be Olympic silver medallist Will Claye who also won the silver medal in the long jump. Also in the spotlight will be US sprinter Justin Gatlin who will be bidding for his third consecutive win in the men’s 100m against Nesta Carter, Mike Rodgers and eternal Kim Collins. Christophe Lemaitre will line-up in the 200m. The men’s 800m promise a big show with World champion Mohamed Aman, Olympic silver medallist Nijel Amos and European champion Adam Kszczot. The men’s shot put will feature a clash between Germany and the USA with World champion David Storl who will take on multi-World champion Christian Cantwell and Joe Kovacs who recently put an excellent 22.35m shot. The men’s javelin also features a star-studded field with Olympic champion Keshorn Walcott and and World champion Vitezlav Vesely.
VLASIC RETURNS TO ROME - The spotlight will be on the women’s high jump on another magic runway of the Rome Olympic Stadium where Stefka Kostadinova set the still-standing world record with 2.09m. The meeting record is jointly held by Blanka Vlasic who is ready to return to Rome for what is expected to be a high-quality clash. The Croatian star, who cleared 2.03m in the 2003 edition of the Golden Gala, will take on a big group of 2 metres jumpers like Russians Mariya Kuchina and Svetlana Shkolina, Ruth Beitia from Spain, Pole Kamila Lichwinko and Italian star Alessia Trost. Italian athletics fans will support two more stars, European 400m champion Libania Grenot and 20-year-old Federica Del Buono, European Indoor bronze medallist in the 1500m. The women’s 100 m hurdles will be a star-studded race with the last two Olympic champions Dawn Harper Nelson (2008) and Sally Pearson (2012) and reigning World champion Brianna Rollins. Olympic, World and European champion Sandra Perkovic will highlight the women’s discus, while Olympic silver medallist Elena Sokolova will clash against World bronze medallist Ivana Spanovic and Dariya Klishina.
RUNFEST AND PALIO DEI COMUNI – This year the Golden Gala will start earlier with the RunFest, a running event which be hosted in the Marble Stadium from 2nd to 4th June. Three days of activity which are open to everyone and dedicated to the world of running and to the lively universe of passionate runners. No less than thousand young students are expected to take part in the Palio dei Comuni, the 12x200 maxi-relay which will take place in the Rome Olympic Stadium on 4th June during the afternoon shortly before the start of the meeting. A series of Master competitions and two middle-distance under 20 races are confirmed in the pre-programme.
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