Italy: Rome to host Golden Gala 2022 on 9 June

Rome: The 2022 edition of the Golden Gala, Italy’s annual track and field event, takes place at Rome’s Olympic Stadium on Thursday 9 June.

The Rome event, which will be broadcast live on Italian television, is part of the Diamond League, an annual series of 14 track and field meetings for top athletes.

Now in its 42nd year, the Golden Gala is a who’s-who from the world of international athletics, including seven Italian gold-medallists from the Tokyo Olympics.

The most high-profile among them is Marcell Jacobs – “the world’s fastest man” – who last summer became the first Italian to win the Men’s 100m Olympic final.

This year the Golden Gala returns to its traditional location in Rome, after moving to Florence last year, under the slogan “Oro Puro” (Pure Gold).

The event’s star sprinters include Americans Fred Kerley, Trayvon Bromell and Marvin Bracy; China’s Bingtian Su; Britain’s Dina Asher Smith; Shaunae Miller Uibo from Bahamas, and Marie Josée Ta Lou from Ivory Coast.

Italian Gianmarco Tamberi and Qatari Mutaz Barshim, who shared an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, will face off in the men’s high jump, while in the women’s competition Malaika Mihambo from Germany will take on Ivana Spanovic Vuleta from Serbia.

Other names to watch out for include US shot-putter Joe Kovacs, Swedish discus-thrower Daniel Stahl, and middle-distance runners Selemon Barega from Ethiopia and Laura Muir from Scotland.

The Golden Gala began in 1980 and was dedicated to the memory of the late champion Italian sprinter Pietro Mennea in 2013.

Over the course of its history, the gala has set several world records, of which the 1,500-m (1998) and mile records (1999) by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj still stand.