Noah Lyles beats Jordan Anthony in Rome Diamond League showdown

Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

Against a field that featured Olympic champions Marcell Jacobs and Letsile Tebogo and one of the world’s best sprint prospects in 21-year-old World Indoor champion Jordan Anthony, the winner of the men’s 100 meters at Thursday’s Rome Diamond League was a familiar face: Olympic champion Noah Lyles. With the last two Olympic 100m champions squaring off in Jacobs’ home country, organizers treated the men’s 100 like a championship final, saving it for the final event of the night and turning out the main stadium lights as the athletes were introduced to the fans one by one.

These are the moments that the 28-year-old Lyles lives for, and he executed a classic Lyles race to earn a convincing victory in 9.88 (+0.4). Anthony, who beat Lyles in their last encounter in the US indoor 60m final on March 1, started fastest. But few men in history hold their speed better than Lyles; if he is within sniffing distance at 60m, the rest of the field is in trouble.

Noah Lyles (USA) the king of the 100m in Rome (Chiara Montesano for Diamond League AG)

On Thursday night, he was, and they were. Anthony faltered late, fading to 4th in 9.96 as Lyles won by daylight. Cameroon’s 32-year-old Emmanuel Eseme, the recently-crowned African champion, was a surprise second, running a national record of 9.94, while Tebogo ran easily his best 100 of the year, 9.95 to finish 3rd.

“Ten meters before the finish line, I knew the race was over and I had already won it,” Lyles told meet organizers. “I was thinking about how I was going to celebrate it.”

He celebrated by pretending to hold a championship belt, mimicking the physical item he bestowed upon Anthony when his younger training partner beat him indoors three months ago.

It had to feel good. After Anthony’s red-hot start to 2026 — he also ran a 100m pb of 9.91 in April — expectations were high for the first-year pro in his Diamond League debut in Rome. Fourth in 9.96 is hardly a disaster, but there was no changing-of-the-guard moment today. Anthony may be world champion indoors, but outdoors, in the 100m, Lyles remains America’s best 100-meter man.

100 m – Men

Wind: +0.4

Lyles’ win was the highlight from the first European stop on the 2026 Diamond League circuit at the Stadio Olimpico. In the field, the Italian fans were happy as Andy Diaz Hernandez (17.59m triple jump), Leonardo Fabbri (22.14m shot put), and Matteo Sioli (2.28m high jump) all earned victories. But the performance of the night came in the men’s javelin, where Sri Lanka’s Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage uncorked a throw of 92.62m, a three-meter pb that was the longest in the world since 2024 and moved him to #8 on the all-time list.

Here are six other thoughts on the top running events in Rome.

*Full results

Alfred turns back Jefferson-Wooden in battle of champions

If the men’s 100 was the marquee men’s sprint race of the night, the marquee women’s race was the 200, featuring the USA’s Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (World 100/200 gold in 2025) and St. Lucia’s Julien Alfred (Olympic 100 gold/200 silver in 2024). MJW got out of the blocks well, but Alfred was soon in the lead and held it off the turn, running 21.93 (+1.3) as MJW fizzled out in the end and took 2nd in 22.17.

Alfred was more race-sharp than her rival, having run an indoor season and already clocked 21.86 this spring, while this was Jefferson-Wooden’s first individual race since winning triple gold at Worlds in September. Round 1 in 2026 goes to Alfred, but don’t expect this to be the end of the story.

200 m – Women

Wind: +1.3

Hodgkinson runs 51.14 in Diamond League 400 debut

Keely Hodgkinson does not run the 400 much, so there was a lot of hype around this one, especially after her stellar winter. Hodgkinson’s indoor campaign included an 800 world record of 1:54.87, an indoor world title, and a relay split of 50.10 in the 4 x 400. And while she did run a personal best in Rome of 51.14 — a .35 improvement on her 51.49 pb from indoors — the time won’t turn too many heads.

As expected, Hodgkinson was gapped early by the 400 specialists, hitting 200 in 24.17, but she could not make up much ground later in the race either. Part of the reason for that is that this was a fast race overall, with the top four all breaking 50 seconds — great running for this early in the season. The outcome was in doubt until the final meters, when Norway’s Henriette Jaeger made a late surge to win it in 49.60 over Czechia’s 20-year-old World Indoor champion Lurdes Gloria Manuel, who ran 49.77 for 2nd to break 50 for the first time.

400 m – Women

Hiltz goes for it on the last lap in 1500, but Hunter Bell gets the last laugh

Georgia Hunter Bell has won an Olympic bronze, World Indoor gold, and owns a personal best of 3:52, but until Thursday had never won a Diamond League 1500. That changed in Rome as she judged the race perfectly and used a 58.2-second last lap to run away with the win in 3:58.63.

American Nikki Hiltz led at the bell, and with the clock reading just 3:00.0 at that point, the relatively slow pace was shaping up nicely for the big-kicking Hiltz. But Hunter Bell quickly matched Hiltz’s move, then pulled away with 150 to go and was never challenged in the home straight. Hiltz, meanwhile, had to settle for 3rd as Poland’s Klaudia Kazimierska ran Hiltz down in the home straight, 3:59.24 to 3:59.26.

Hiltz is usually the one passing people in the last 100, not the other way around, but Kazimierska has been in great form recently with a 1:58 800 pb in Los Angeles and a 3:59 1500 win in Bydgoszcz. She closed in 58.5 today to keep the hot streak going.

1500 m – Women

Tual takes control and wins 800 as Brazier struggles in home straight

After making progress with his Diamond League opener on Sunday — 1:44.03 in Rabat, a big improvement on his 1:45.03 season opener in LA — US champion Donavan Brazier took a step backwards in the non-DL 800 in Rome. Just as in LA, Brazier was in good position in the final 200 but didn’t have the legs in the home straight and wound up fading from 3rd to 8th in 1:44.46, nipped by fellow American Bryce Hoppel at the line.

The good news for Brazier fans is that he is healthy and racing — at this point in 2025, he had not raced at all — but in Rome, he did not have the smooth power he displayed last season, or even in Rabat on Sunday.

Up front, the win went to French 1:41 man Gabriel Tual, who made a sustained push from 200 to go and held on to take the victory in 1:43.66. The cushion Tual created on the turn wound up being necessary as Irishman Mark English almost ran him down at the end, closing hard for 2nd in 1:43.80.

800 m – Men

Trey Cunningham joins the sub-13 club

Trey Cunningham has been knocking on the door of sub-13 in the 110m hurdles ever since running 13.00 to win the NCAA title for Florida State in 2022, but four years later, he had never gotten closer despite running 13.00 twice more, at Grand Slam Track Miami and the Paris Diamond League last year.

On Thursday, he finally broke the barrier and became the 29th man to break 13.00, clocking 12.98 (+0.5) to win in Rome in his 2026 outdoor opener. Cunningham and Jamal Britt were locked in a great battle through seven hurdles, but Britt hit the final two hurdles and tumbled to the ground as Cunningham became the first man to beat him in the 110s in 2026.

Cunningham couldn’t believe he finally broke 13.00

Wind: +0.5

Amebaw wins fast 5,000 as Ethiopia goes 1-2-3-4-5-6-7

The women’s 5,000 was meant to be a big opportunity for World Indoor champion Nadia Battocletti of Italy to chase her first Diamond League win on home soil. But Battocletti, who was coming off the flu, was never a factor and would struggle home in 13th in 14:40.05.

For a while, Olympic steeple champion Winfred Yavi pushed the pace up front, and while she did run an 11-second personal best of 14:30.06, that put her nowhere near the win as the top women all closed very hard.

Freweyni Hailu, winner of the 1500 in Rabat, made a big push with 600 to go, but she could not shake Ethiopian rivals Alesign Baweke and Likina Amebaw, both of whom remained in contact entering the home straight. Baweke attacked first and grabbed the lead, but the patient Amebaw timed her kick perfectly and nipped Baweke right before the line to win in 14:18.41. Baweke (14:18.54) and Hailu (14:18.94) both got personal bests in what was just the fifth race ever to feature three women under 14:20.

The depth extended even farther back as the race featured all-time marks for place for 6th (Hirut Meshesha, 14:22.56) and 7th (Fantaye Baweke, 14:23.44).

Remarkably, the entire top seven all hailed from Ethiopia, a demonstration of the country’s staggering depth. Baweke’s 14:23.44 would put her #2 on the all-time US list in the women’s 5,000. Today that was only good for 7th-fastest Ethiopian in Rome.

Check out the full results below.

5000 m – Women