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I arrive in the stadium area shortly after 6 p.m.: I will finally be able to watch the Golden Gala from the beginning. Of course, it's much easier if you only have to face a one-kilometre walk from the hotel, instead of the 20-odd kilometres from my house to the Olympic Stadium. It also helps not having to work before and not being tempted to do anything else, given the bad weather. I had also tried to arrive early because I have an unnumbered seat, but thinking of the empty stadiums I used to find when I arrived at the Rome editions, I don't think I'll have any trouble finding a seat.
I have to walk around all the stadium to get to my sector, the straight opposite the finish line. I also thought about getting something to eat, but there is too much queue at the bar inside and there are none open around. As I pass, I see the inside and have a nasty surprise: my grandstand is uncovered, and it's raining. I thought that the Ridolfi stadium was all covered, instead everything is covered except this grandstand. I curse my choice to take this ticket: I had done it to have more choice of seat, since there were not many numbered ones left. Entering, however, I don't seem to have much choice: the sector is almost all full. What's more, I'm afraid that even the seats that I see are free are actually taken, but when I ask if one is free I'm told yes the first time. I am about halfway the straight: I have a wonderful view of the discus throw and the horizontal jumps, and in general I have never seen a high-level event from so close (even in Rieti the grandstands are further away). The choice of this stand turns out to be a winner, also because if I had taken a numbered seat, I would have taken it as close as possible to the high jump sector, to watch Tamberi, and I would have been disappointed. The only problem is the rain, but after a little over half an hour it will stop.
We start with the women's discus: Altman starts badly, better the Chinese and Craft. Osakue, after a throw in the cage, makes a very long one, at least 63 metres, but a foul. In the third she manages to make a valid throw and place herself ahead of Altman, who will only manage to continue the race because the other American makes two fouls and a 55 metre throw. In the meantime the men's triple jump began: Zangho leads off, and looking at the metric bar he seems to have done about 18 metres, but I guess it's a problem of perspective: in fact he's not at that level, but it's still 17.31. Then Diaz jumps, and you can immediately see that it is much more, probably the Italian record. The result is awaited, but in the end it is 17.75: Italian record! Diaz will not improve again, Zamgho only at the last jump, with 17.68. Ihemeje does 16.69 in the first and he too will not improve, but it is especially sad to see Taylor anonymous, a shadow of the champion he was.
Meanwhile the discus resumed after a long break between the third and fourth round: the order of throws was the opposite of usual, from first to last. Osakue improves on the fourth with 61.55, Altman gets the fifth throw right with 65.96 and wins. The first track races are held, the masters' 100, which are useful to understand where the finish line is, since from my point the line cannot be seen: I understand that it can be distinguished by a pole next to the track. At the end of TJ triple the kids crowd the balustrade hunting for autographs, and we have to tell them several times to sit down as they obstruct the view. Before the start of 200, Bocchi and Ihemeje arrive in the stands: they immediately bend, but the fans don't.
Field events continue with shot put, a particularly eagerly awaited event because of the Florentine Fabbri, which is held on the opposite side to mine: from my position, the 20 and 22 metre marker seem close and it is not clear at what distance from the two the tool falls. Only on Fabbri's first throw I realise that there is also a screen. I was expecting a great performance from Weir, who instead starts with 20.71, then exceeds 21 twice, but finishesd sixth. Instead, already Fabbri's first throw can be seen (also from the screen) to be better: 21.25. At the second he was already rejoicing before he even saw the result: 21.45! The fourth seems to be close to 22 metres, and in fact he takes the lead with 21.73! We get to the final throw with three in 9 cm and a fourth who remains out by another 9. At the last throw no one improves, luckily there is no longer the absurd formula of two years ago and so Fabbri wins.
Like in Rome, there is the student competition: there it was for high school students and among towns and districts of Rome, here it is among middle schools. 12X200 metres, with teams of 6 boys and 6 girls, 2 for each class, in free order. The jerseys are all the same, so you don't understand if those in the lead are always the same or change (they copy the worst from the Diamond League...). The TV coverage starts: they interview Mei and Coe, but you can't hear much. The first DL track race is the women's 400hs: Bol is a class apart and ends up with a normal 52.43 for her, Folorunso who, contrary to what she used to do, starts off strong then gives way in the final. Seeing that the third is already above 54, it is clear that she is above 55, and in fact it's 55.27. The men's 200 follow, with the two Italians in the outer lanes: Tortu starts strong, then in the straight, while Knighton takes off, gives the impression of losing more than he actually does. I thought he'd come second last, ahead of Desalu, who was far behind, but he is still fourth.
In the meantime, the women's pole vault has begun: Molinarolo and an unrecognisable Stefanidi stop at 4.41, at 4.61 five remain, including Bruni. They go to 4.71: Bruni tries seriously only in the third and only manages to put her feet over the bar, Sutej and Moon, known until last year as Nageotte (but when will they stop changing their surnames? Isn't it her business who she is married to?). The latter will win with 4.77. On the opposite side is the men's high jump, which should have been a highlight and instead, without Tamberi, is hardly followed. The speaker tries to get the attendance excited, but with little result. Even the level doesn't seem very high: at 2.20 there are already 5 (out of 9) left, but in the end Harrison will still do 2.32 and Woo 2.30.
The track events continue with the women's 3000 steeplechase: I am very close to the start and can see that watching Coburn closely is really worth it. A group of 6 (including the pacemaker) takes off, all wearing the same jerseys: very difficult to distinguish them, considering that the name on the bib cannot be read, even with binoculars. The winner is the Ethiopian Almayew, who has the misfortune of being rewarded by minister Salvini (but she is lucky not to know who he is). This is followed by the women's 100, one of the lowest level races: only two of the top 10 of the ranking are in the start list, Ta Lou and Asher-Smith, and only the former shows up, winning anyway in 10.97. This is followed by 110hs: difficult to see what's going on behind Holloway, in the end second is the Swiss Joseph in 13.10
The last competition, also eagerly awaited, begins: the women's long jump. Iapichino jumps third and hers is the first valid one, so we still don't know how to interpret the metric bar. She does 6.79 and we will understand only at the end of the first round how good it is, when the second is 20 cms away. Only in the fourth round will there be a 6.74. The wait for the results is already long, but it becomes very long for Iapichino's third jump (the speaker will speak of a "Hitchcockian wait"), when she will stare at the screen for quite a while and then get dressed. After a break, they will resume with the human validation of jumps (flag instead of sensor).
Another long-distance race: the men's 5000. Slow pace up to the fourth km, so much so that the group remains unusually compact; the 'virtual pacemaker' stops signalling the 12'50" pace and goes to the world leadvof around 13', which the group seems to struggle to follow. The last kilometre, however, is very fast, but many remain attached anyway: it is won in 12'52" and eleven drop below 13'. After a high 'minor' race, twomen's 400, without any big names, but hard-fought, we come to the highlight of the track races: men's 100. In the last 20-30 metres Kerley ttakes off and wins in 9.94, the only one below 10, Ceccarelli look closevto the group, but among the last, instead he is fifth in 10.13.
Last track race: twomen's 1500. The virtual pacemaker set a pace of 3'51" and seemed too fast at the start. In the third lap Kipyegon pulls away from Muir and with one lap to go it becomes clear that the world record is not impossible: she should do it in just under a minute. On the last lap I realise that the group, where there are also the Italians (at the beginning I could not see Vissa, because she is the only Italian in the whole meeting wearing the DL jersey instead of that of her club) is not far away and so they too are doing well. Kipyegon closes in 3:49.11, the first to go under 3'50": for the first time I witnessed a barrier being broken. Vissa went under 4'02", Del Buono was the third Italian with 4:05.09, and Sabbatini was missing. With these times, eight years ago Del Buono was considered a great prospect of Italian athletics, today she is a reserve!
Given the interruptions, a good part of the fifth round of long jump still remains at the end of the track events, as well as the sixth. Of course everyone stays. No one improves: Iapichino wins with 6.79. Who knows whether there had ever been a meeting in DL with two wins by home athletes (intended as city). The speaker invites people to stay for the victory ceremonies, but few do: I go too, because I'm starting to feel hungry. On the way out I meet Diaz signing autographs.
So I saw three Italian wins, or two, depending on the definition of 'Italian' (in the official programme Diaz was not considered such), without even our two most representative athletes. If someone had told us that, I am not saying six years ago, at our lowest point, but even three, we would have sent him to a madhouse. It was my best Golden Gala ever, not only for that, but also for the view, very close up, and for the emotion that a full stadium gives (even if there were fewer spectators than in Rome).
And I have the impression that in Budapest I will have even more fun,
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