Olympic, world and three-time European gold medallist Gianmarco Tamberi returns to the scene of one of his greatest triumphs when he opens his season at the Rome Diamond League in the Stadio Olimpico on Friday (7).
The talismanic Italian cleared a championship record 2.37m to win gold at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships nearly one year ago.
In his first competition of the season, he was teetering on the verge of elimination with two failures at 2.29m and again at 2.33m, but he produced a memorable flourish to clear both 2.34m and 2.37m to send his home supporters into raptures.
Tamberi will once again launch his competitive campaign in Rome, before potentially leading Italy's defend of the 1st Division title at the European Athletics Team Championships in Madrid on 27-29 and September's Tokyo World Athletics Champinships.
He admits he was unable to resist the lure of competing in the famed Rome arena in front of his adoring fans. "As many of you already know, in recent months I have focused much more on recovering rather than training to improve my performance,” he wrote on Instagram.
“That said, I cannot ignore the crazy amount of messages I have received in the last month in relation to my possible participation in the Golden Gala. The desire to feel your support is indescribable. My knee. Thanks to all the hard work i have put in the last few months it's going to let me do it smoothly."
Olympic champion Hamish Kerr of New Zealand and world indoor champion Sanghyeok Woo of South Korea are also in the field.