Viva Italia (Golden Gala Roma, June 6, 2025)

Viva Italia

Track and Field is buzzing in Italy! At the 2024 European Championships in Rome, the host nation dominated with 24 medals, 11 gold.  The next best was France with 16 medals, four goals. As the Diamond League series moved to Europe, Rome seemed an appropriate place and the Golden Gala the right event. Rome as a city has so much to excite, so much history and culture – from the Colosseum to the Vatican to the Olympic Stadium.

The Olympic Stadium is a magnificent venue. It has hosted a football/soccer World Cup and regularly hosts international games in football or rugby. It is certainly the only Diamond League venue with a warm up track with ancient statues looking down on the modern gladiators. The only reservation is that a decent crowd of 15-20 thousand, looks small in such a large stadium.

The 2025 Diamond League saw four Italian runners-up and a third place.  The highlight was  Nadia Battocletti who set a new Italian record in the  5000m of 14:23.14 behind Beatrice Chebet. Afterwards she told the media that she was “Sopra la luna” adding: “Wow! I was thinking about beating the national record this season but not this soon and not in this way. Today’s aim was to improve my PB and it worked. This is incredible, I guess this is the second fastest time by a European. Amazing! The season is long and I hope to be able to keep the emotion and the shape. The crowd was great and I have to say a big thank you to them because they helped a lot. It makes me so proud when they cheer for me. It means a lot to get Beatrice´s recognition for this national record – I guess we have to support each other. My strong finish helped me a lot and I worked hard for this finish. Achieving this national record in Rome means so much to me”.  If your Italian does not go much beyond pizza and pasta, she was over the moon!

Roberta Bruni was second in the pole-vault with 4.65, commenting: “It was so great to compete for my home crowd, this success is fantastic. I saw a lot of people I know in thecrowd – my family, friends, friends from school and from my former club”. The point about the former club is that she is now based in Spain.

Ayomide Folorunso was another second-placer, in the 400m Hurdles in  54.21.  She seemed pleased:…