2026 Diamond League Rome: athletes to watch
Even if the phrase is French, Rome appears to have attracted the crème de la crème of the sprinting world.
The men’s 100m closes the programme and has all the ingredients of a show-stopping finale. Olympic 100m champion and world 200m champion Noah Lyles headlines a field that also includes Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo, but the star power hardly ends there. The 2026 and 2025 world indoor 60m champions Jordan Anthony (USA) and Jeremiah Azu (GBR) are also both entered, while Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala arrives having finished first and second in the opening two Diamond League 100m races of the season.
Omanyala owns the fastest lifetime best in the field at 9.77, while Anthony brings the quickest mark of the year, a 9.91.
The home crowd, meanwhile, will be cheering for their own champion, Tokyo 2020 100m Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs.
The women’s 200m is every bit as compelling. Olympic 100m champion and Olympic 200m silver medallist Julien Alfred of St. Lucia leads a loaded field that includes American sprint star Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, who captured both the world 100m and 200m titles last year.
Rome is Jefferson-Wooden’s individual outdoor season debut, as the world holds its breath to see what kind of form the star is in this year, after missing the indoor season.
Great Britain’s Amy Hunt, the reigning world 200m silver medallist, is also in the field alongside compatriot Dina Asher-Smith, the 2019 world champion.
Speaking of British stars, Olympic 800m champion and world indoor record holder Keely Hodgkinson will step down in distance to contest the women’s 400m, testing her luck and gauging her speed over the single lap.
The 1500m offers another fascinating cast. U.S. champion and world indoor bronze medallist Nikki Hiltz will have a chance to renew their revenge on reigning world indoor champion Georgia Hunter Bell of Great Britain. But neither athlete can afford to overlook Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom, who soared to victory in the season-opening Diamond League meeting in Shanghai/Keqiao.
Over in the field, Olympic champion Nina Kennedy returns to the women’s pole vault after clearing 4.80m to win in Rabat, while New Zealand’s Eliza McCartney arrives having bested that height this season with 4.81. The standards are high, as are the personal bests, and the United States’ Sandi Morris leads with a lifetime mark of 5.00m. Double world indoor champion Molly Caudery adds yet another world-class name to the event.
The men’s shot put remains a showcase for American dominance. The top four finishers in Rabat all represented the United States, and Rome’s field once again features triple Olympic champion Ryan Crouser and long-time rival Joe Kovacs, the three-time Olympic silver medallist who has spent much of his career chasing the standard set by his compatriot.
The men’s javelin throw boasts an equally impressive collection of credentials. Olympic champions Keshorn Walcott (TTO) and Thomas Röhler (GER) will line up against several world champions.
