Omanyala finishes eighth as Noah Lyles powers to Rome Diamond League victory
Reading Time: 3min | Fri. 05.06.26. | 10:42
The American, who won Olympic gold over 100m, arrived in Rome with his sights firmly set on victory and delivered exactly that despite facing one of the strongest sprint line-ups assembled this season
Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles reaffirmed his status as the man to beat in the men’s sprint division after storming to victory at the Rome Diamond League on Thursday, 4 June, while Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala finished eighth in a star-studded field.
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Lyles produced a season best of 9.88 seconds to claim top honours at the Golden Gala meeting held at the Stadio Olimpico, showcasing his trademark finishing speed to pull away from the competition in the closing metres.
The American, who won Olympic gold over 100m, arrived in Rome with his sights firmly set on victory and delivered exactly that despite facing one of the strongest sprint line-ups assembled this season.
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“I had a great finish. I can go again. Who wants to go? This season might be different, but it doesn’t mean the goal is different. I am not showing anywhere to lose.
I am here to win. Ten metres before the finish line, I knew the race was over, and I had already won it. I was thinking about how I was going to celebrate it,” Lyles joked with the media after the race.
Race organisers heightened anticipation with a dramatic pre-race light show as fans packed the stadium for the sprint showdown.
Home favourite and Tokyo Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs received the loudest ovation from the crowd as he lined up alongside Lyles in the centre lanes, while Africa’s sprint stars Ferdinand Omanyala, Letsile Tebogo and Akani Simbine also featured.
At the gun, Jacobs reacted sharply while Jordan Anthony looked poised to cause an upset through the middle stages of the race. However, Lyles once again demonstrated why he remains the benchmark in the event, finding another gear over the final 20 metres to surge clear and cross the line first in 9.88.
Cameroon’s Emmanuel Eseme clocked a national record of 9.94 to finish second, edging Botswana’s Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo, who settled for third in a season best of 9.95.
South Africa’s Akani Simbine was sixth in 10.03 while Omanyala, the African record holder, crossed the line in 10.11 to place eighth in the nine-man field.
Eseme was delighted with his performance and believes bigger achievements lie ahead.
Elsewhere in Rome, Olympic champion Julien Alfred won the women’s 200m in 21.93 ahead of Melissa Jefferson-Wooden, while Trey Cunningham dipped under 13 seconds for the first time in his career, clocking 12.98 to break Allen Johnson’s 27-year-old meeting record in the men’s 110m hurdles.
In the women’s 400m hurdles, Slovakia’s Emma Zapletalová continued her impressive season by posting a world-leading 52.58.
The Italian fans also had plenty to celebrate as Matteo Sioli won the men’s high jump with a clearance of 2.28m, Andy Díaz Hernández dominated the triple jump with 17.59m, and Leonardo Fabbri triumphed in the shot put with a throw of 22.14m.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell opened her 2026 Diamond League 1500m campaign in style, running a season’s best 3:58.63 to secure victory ahead of Klaudia Kazimierska and Nikki Hiltz in a race that saw four athletes dip below the four-minute mark.