This year’s Golden Gala in Rome might have been remembered for the number of late scratches and watered down fields if not for Letsile Tebogo’s Bolt-like escapade through the final twenty meters of the men’s 100m on Friday. 

The home crowd went home a bit disappointed anyway, as many Italian stars had flat performances. 

The 2020 Olympic gold medalist Marcell Jacobs was clearly still nursing an injury as he shut down his 100m race early and finished in last place. 

Gianmarco Tamberi, known for his theatrics on the apron, cleared 2.27m to tie for third in the high jump. Surprise Olympic silver medalist Nadia Battocletti broke 4:00 in the 1,500m, but she finished so far back that she might as well have been running a different race.

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Men’s 400m Misses Quincy Hall

Though Olympic bronze medalist Muzala Samukonga’s 43.99 made for a fun race, the field was sorely missing American gold medalist Quincy Hall, who was a late scratch. 

Behind Samukonga, the performances were middling and suggestive that much of the field has lost fitness since Paris.

Americans Vernon Norwood and Bryce Deadmon finished surprisingly far back in fifth and seventh, respectively.

Masai Russell Dethroned by Ackera Nugent in Women’s 100m Hurdles

Olympic gold medalist Masai Russell’s title defense was spoiled on Friday by the phenomenal late season form of Jamaican Ackera Nugent. 

Nugent looked fantastic in the two rounds of the high hurdles in Silesia and she was predicted to be Russell’s fiercest competition in the race.

That proved to be true. Ackera won in a new personal best of 12.24, which was one hundredth of a second better than Russell’s Olympic winning time and also the world leading time.

Devynne Charlton continued a disappointing season with a late stumble and trip that resulted in a DNF.

Winfred Yavi’s Late Race Epiphany Almost Betters the World Record

A hot lead pack was whittled down to Bahrain’s Winfred Yavi and Uganda’s Peruth Chemutai. On the last lap, Yavi and Chemutai traded the lead and it almost felt as if they were toying with each other.

Then, on the home stretch, Yavi seemed to have a stark realization that the world record was actually in play and began one of the most brilliant sprints for home ever seen in a steeplechase race – almost falling along the way. 

Seeing this, Chemutai hit the brakes and began looking over her shoulder, which was still good enough for a five-second personal best and national record.

Yavi dropped her personal best from 8:50.66 to 8:44.39, just missing the record of 8:44.32. Yavi likely will be kicking herself back home -- if she had started her kick just a few meters earlier, she would have been in the hunt. 

Men’s 5,000m World Record Attempt Foiled

Though Olympic bronze medalist Grant Fisher scratching from this race deflated interest, it was considered to be a venerable world record attempt. 

The field, which had nine Ethiopians including the two pacers, was likely to be led by Berihu Aregawi, who ran the third-fastest 3K of all time behind Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s recently-minted world record, and by Ronald Kwemoi, the former 1,500m star who won a silver medal in the 5K in Paris.

Ultimately, the world record was really only traced through 3,400m. 

After the fourth kilometer was run in roughly 2:45, some of the field caught back up to the leaders and the record was out of sight. 

Kwemoi couldn’t handle the early pace and Aregawi’s effort to keep the pace honest after the pacers dropped cost him dearly as he finished in sixth in 12:54.12.

The men’s 5,000m has progressed quite a bit in order for 12:54.12 to only be good for sixth in a Diamond League race. Though none of these men were particularly close today, there is a chance the 5K record doesn’t last through the end of this season.

Kipyegon Wins, Hull Fades, Battocletti Goes Sub-4

The pacing for the women’s 1,500m was wildly uneven, a 59.97 start and then 64. 

But Faith Kipyegon left little doubt that she is the best 1,500m runner in the world. 

Olympic silver medalist Jess Hull at times lined up on her shoulder as if she was contemplating passing her, but the Australian got kicked down on the home straight for 3:54.98 as Freweyni Hailu earned a personal best effort of 3:54.16 and Birke Haylom finished in 3:54.79.

As the crowd chanted her name, Italian Nadia Battocletti ended up breaking four minutes in the 1,500m. As predicted, Italian Sinta Vissa finished slightly ahead of her, though they were both far behind the leaders.

Tebogo Channels Usain Bolt in Confidence

This was the year of Letsile Tebogo’s emergence on the world stage. 

He won the Olympic gold in the 200m while pre-race favorite Noah Lyles was sick. In this race in Rome, he completed his ascension as a truly elite combo sprinter with a 9.87. 

This race was so much more than the 9.87 seconds it took for him to cross the finish line. And in tandem, his potential as a 100m runner is now so much more than the 9.86 he ran for sixth in the final in Paris.

Tebogo’s start was second only behind the legendary starter Christian Coleman. By 70 meters into the race, however, Tebogo had pulled up even with Coleman, lunged ahead, looked over at him and began celebrating as he entered the final part of his execution. 

Despite not using his arms during the last 25 meters of the race, Letsile Tebogo eased away from a world-class field in a warning to the gold and silver medalists Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson.

This race was so much more than the 9.87 seconds it took for him to cross the finish line. And in tandem, his potential as a 100m runner is now so much more than the 9.86 he ran for sixth in the final in Paris.

In the immediate aftermath of the race, that Kishane Thompson had been a late scratch was an afterthought. The replays had already started. 

The last time in recent memory that a 100m sprinter dominated a race in such a fashion was actually Letsile Tebogo, when he destroyed the field in the U20 Championships in Cali, Colombia, in 2022. 

In that race -- which was won in 9.91 -- Tebogo was the class of the field and turned his torso completely to gesture and celebrate 40 meters before the line.

These celebrations are homage to Usain Bolt’s then-world-record 9.68 run in the 100m final at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. 

If Tebogo did not celebrate today, he may have approached the sub-9.80 barrier. 

But Tebogo will have plenty of reasons to celebrate after this season. Only time will tell if he will be able to put up Bolt-like performances to back up his celebrations.

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