Pathirage, Cunningham make their mark in Rome
Sri Lankan javelin thrower, U.S. high hurdler, join exclusive clubs in Diamond League meet
Javelin thrower Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage of Sri Lanka and high hurdler Trey Cunningham of the U.S. each broke a significant barrier in their respective events in the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea Diamond League meet in Rome on Thursday.
While Olympic champion Noah Lyles of the U.S. capped the fourth Diamond League meet of the season by coming from behind to win the men’s 100 meters in 9.88 seconds, Pathirage and Cunningham turned in the two most noteworthy statistical performances at Stadio Olimpico.
The 23-year-old Pathirage moved to eighth on the all-time performer list in the men’s javelin when he surpassed 90 meters for the first time in his career with a throw of 92.62 (303 feet 10 inches).
The 27-year-old Cunningham got the first sub-13 clocking of his life when he won that event in 12.98 seconds.
Pathirage had finished seventh in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo last September and improved his national record to 86.50 (283-9) during the year. But he had thrown 89.37 (293-2) in a meet in Diyagama, Sri Lanka, in late March, and followed that with an 89.28 (292-11) effort in the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya, in late April.
He opened his Diamond League season in Rabat, Morocco, last Sunday when his top throw of 85.97 (282-0) left him a scant 11 centimeters behind winner — and two-time World champion — Anderson Peters of Grenada. But he crushed the field on Thursday as his 92.62 (303-10) effort left him way ahead of second-place Peters at 83.91 (275-3), third-place Curtis Thompson of the U.S. at 83.89 (275-2), and fourth-place Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago at 83.45 (273-9).
Walcott had won his second World title in Tokyo and Thompson was the bronze medalist in that meet.
“I tried my best today to throw the national record,” Pathirage said in quotes on the meet website. “I managed to improve it by three meters. Even though I had only two valid attempts today, I am very stable mentally. It was very hot in Rabat and the weather in Rome feels good to throw further than at the last competition. Winning today feels like a Sri Lankan festival.”
Pathirage was in first place in the standings after throwing 84.49 (277-2) on his opening effort of the competition, but he unleashed his 92.62 (303-10) rocket in the next round before registering fouls on his final four attempts.
His top mark moved him to second on the all-time Asian performer list and he is now the third javelin thrower from South Asia to have broken the 90-meter barrier in the last three seasons.
The first was Arshad Nadeem of Pakistan, who won the 2024 Olympic title with a throw of 92.97 (305-0), and the second was 2021 Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra of India, who raised his national record to 90.23 (296-0) last year.
Cunningham had run a personal best of 13.00 seconds in winning the NCAA title in 2022 as a senior at Florida State University and he had equaled that mark on two occasions last year. But the silver medalist in the 2022 World championships had placed a disappointing fourth in the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships last year and that left him one spot short of qualifying for the global title meet.
He twice lowered his personal best in the 60 high hurdles during the indoor season and he looked to be headed to a gold medal in the global championships in Torun, Poland, in March, after he won his semifinal in 7.35. But he finished a frustrated third in the final in 7.43.
Thursday’s race was his first since then and he won it by a large margin as Orlando Bennett of Jamaica finished second in 13.31 and Enrique Llopis of Spain placed third in 13.32.
Jamal Britt of the U.S. entered the meet with a 7-0 record and four 13.07 clockings on the season, but he crossed the finish line in ninth place — in 26.75 — after hitting the ninth hurdle and then getting tangled up with the tenth before crashing to the track.
Cunningham, who was the No. 2-ranked high hurdler in the world by Track & Field News for the 2025 season, beat everyone out of the blocks on Thursday. And although a race analysis on the meet website showed that Britt was a hundredth of a second ahead of him by the eighth hurdle, Cunningham had edged back in front at the ninth barrier and he was .12 seconds up on Britt at the tenth.
In a trackside interview that was part of the livestream on flotrack.org, Cunningham said the significance of his sub-13 clocking hadn’t really hit him yet, but he added that “it’s been something I’ve been chasing for a long time. And I stopped chasing it, and it happened, and I’m so happy.”
Lyles had won his fourth consecutive global title in the 200 meters last year, but he had placed a distant third behind Jamaicans Oblique Seville and Kishane Thompson in the 100 in the World championships. And while his winning time of 9.88 in Rome was not blistering fast, it moved him to second on the yearly world list behind Auburn University junior Kayinsola Ajayi, a Nigerian who has run 9.84.
More importantly, it gave him an impressive margin of victory in a race in which the next four finishers were Emmanuel Esseme of Cameroon in a national record of 9.94, Letsile Tebogo of Botswana in 9.95, Jordan Anthony of the U.S. in 9.96, and 2021 Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs of Italy in 9.99.
Anthony, who had won the World indoor in the 60 meters in his first year as a professional, was in second place behind Ackeem Blake of Jamaica after the first 30 meters of the race in Rome. But he was in front at the 40-, 50-, 60-, and 70-meter marks of the contest.
However, Lyles had moved from fifth place at 40 meters to fourth at 50 and to second at both 60 and 70. He was two hundredths of a second ahead of training partner Anthony at 80 meters and then six hundredths of a second in front second-place Esseme at both 90 meters and the finish.
When asked about his race, an excited Lyles said it was “real well put together, real smooth, everything I wanted, every step, every pattern, every stride. I knew I was gonna do it (before we came onto the track). I knew I was gonna do it yesterday. I just had to show everybody it was gonna happen.”
Speaking further, he said “It was like butter. It was like butter. You’re right. All we gonna look for is more intensity, power.”
When he was asked if he knew he had the race won at 60 meters as he was closing in on Anthony, the always confident Lyles said “I knew I had it in the bag at 30 to 40. If I [can] put my hand in your pocket. It’s a done deal.”
Some of the other top performances in the meet came from Emma Zapletalová of Slovakia in the women’s 400-meter hurdles. Likina Amebaw of Ethiopia in the women’s 5,000, Julien Alfred of St. Lucia in the women’s 200, Henriette Jæger of Norway in the women’s 400, and Leonardo Fabbri of Italy in the men’s shot put.
Zapletalová set her second national record in five days when she won the 400 hurdles in a yearly world-leading time of 52.58.
Olympic silver medalist Anna Cockrell of the U.S. finished second in 52.77, folloed by Rushell Clayton of Jamaica in 53.14, and 2016 Olympic and 2019 World champion Dalilah Mohammad of the U.S. in fourth in 53.39.
Zapletalová was in fourth place behind Gianna Woodruff of Panama, Cockrell, and Clayton at the fifth of 10 hurdles in the race, but she had moved up to second behind Woodruff by the seventh hurdle. She had a small lead over second-place Cockrell by the eighth barrier and she gradually drew away from her after that, despite hitting the final hurdle.
Her time bettered her previous national record of 52.82 that she had run in Rabat last Sunday and it also moved her to 12th on the all-time world performer list and made her the third-fastest European in history.
“It had been the crazy start of the season,” Zapletalová said in quotes on the meet website, “I didn’t think I would be able to start my season with two national records. It’s amazing, I am enjoying it a lot. My focus this season is the European Championships. I want to improve my personal bests.”
Amebaw ran a yearly world-leading time of 14:18.41 in the women’s 5,000 in a race in which the top seven finishers were Ethiopian.
Aleshign Baweke finished second in a personal best of 14:18.54 and Freweyni Hailu was third in a personal best of 14:18.94 in a race in which eight of the top nine runners set career bests.
After pacesetter Purity Chepkirui came through the first kilometer in 2:51.46 and the second in 5:44.40, Olympic steeplechase champion Winfred Yavi of Bahrain led a sizeable lead pack through 3,000 meters in 8:41.17 and 11:35.97.
Hailu surged into the lead with 600 meters to go and she was at the front of an eight-woman group as she began the bell lap. However, the race for first had been reduced to Hailu, Baweke, and Amebaw with 200 meters to go.
Hailu was still in the lead entering the home straightaway, but Baweke went by her shortly after that and she was followed by Amebaw, who overtook Baweke in the final 10 meters of the contest. Yavi finished eighth in a national record of 14:30.06 for Bahrain.
Amebaw’s time took nearly six seconds off her previous best and moved her to 15th on the all-time world performer list. Baweke and Hailu are in the No. 16 and 18 spots.
Alfred, the Olympic champion in the 100, had finished third in the World championships last year after dealing with injuries. But she recorded her second sub-22 clocking in the 200 this season when she ran 21.93 on Thursday while finishing well in front of runner-up Melissa Jefferson-Wooden of the U.S. at 22.17.
Anavia Battle of the U.S. was third in 22.39.
Jefferson-Wooden, who had won gold medals in the 100 and 200, as well as in the 400 relay, in the World championships, led Alfred for the first 75 or so meters of the race. But Alfred had caught her at 80 meters and she was four hundredths of a second ahead of her when she came through the opening 100 in 11.01.
Her lead had grown to .13 seconds when passed the 150-meter mark in 16.32 and it expanded to .24 at the finish.
“Win is a win,” said Alfred, who is the current yearly world leader at 21.86. “I wanted to go a bit faster but I will take the win. I am healthy and that’s important too. I am a lot stronger now than I used to be and that’s why I could push a bit extra in the second part of the race. I expected the pressure from Melissa. I am kind of satisfied with this Diamond League win, but still I wished to run faster.”
Jæger won the women’s 400 in 49.60 seconds after being in third place for much of the race.
World indoor champion Lurdes Gloria Manuel of Czechia finished second in a national record of 49.77 and she was followed by Nickisha Pryce of Jamaica in 49.80 and Aaliyah Butler of the U.S. in 49.83.
Butler led the field through the first 200 meters in 23.35 seconds and the opening 300 in 35.89. But Manuel had edged in front at 350 meters. However, Jæger overtook Manuel with roughly 15 meters left in the race.
Fabbri won the shot put at 22.14 (72-7¾) while finishing ahead of the powerhouse U.S. tandem of second-place Joe Kovacs at 21.87 (71-9) and third-place Ryan Crouser at 21.50 (70-6).
Crouser and Kovacs have finished 1-2 in the last three Olympic Games.
The victory was a much-needed one for Fabbri as he had failed to record a mark in his first Diamond League meet in Xiamen, China, on May 23 and he then placed fifth at 21.42 (70-3½) in Rabat.
“I was looking for a night like this,” he said. “But I had good stress and good pressure tonight, I was counting down the time for the event. And my first couple of throws were very tight. I needed to let it go. I came back from China and I knew I was capable of 22 [meters] plus.”
The six other athletes to win Diamond League events in the meet were Georgia Hunter Bell of Great Britain in the women’s 1,500 meters, Megan Simmonds of Jamaica in the women’s 100 hurdles, Molly Caudery of Great Britain in the women’s pole vault, Andy Diaz Hernandez of Italy in the men’s triple jump, Bozhidar Sarâboyukov of Bulgaria in the men’s long jump, and Mateo Sioli of Italy in the men’s high jump.
Hunter Bell, the World indoor champion in the 1,500, ran 3:58.63 in that event after passing first-place Nikki Hiltz of the U.S. midway through the final curve.
Klaudia Kazimierska of Poland finished second in 3:59.24, followed by Hiltz in 3:59.26.
Simmonds clocked 12.50 in the 100 hurdles in a race in which she was in the lead from the fourth hurdle onward. Keni Harrison of the U.S. finished second in 12.54 and Nadine Visser of the Netherlands was third in 12.58.
Caudery, a two-time World indoor champion in the pole vault, was one of three women who cleared 4.80 (15-9) in that event on Thursday. But she was the winner via the tiebreaking rules as she had fewer total misses than second-place Nina Kennedy of Australia.
Angelica Moser of Switzerland finished third because she needed two attempts to clear 4.80 (15-9), while Caudery and Kennedy made that height on their initial attempts.
Diaz Hernandez, the two-time defending World indoor champion, bounded 17.59 (57-8½) in the tiple jump and he also had a leap of 17.58 (57-8¼).
The Jamaican duo of Jordan Scott and Jaydon Hibbert placed second and third, respectively, with bests of 17.33 (56-10¼) and 17.02 (55-10¼).
Sarâboyukov moved from third place to first on the final attempt of the competition in the long jump when he spanned 8.26 (27-1¼).
Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, the two-time defending Olympic champion, placed second at 8.24 (27-½) and Jorge Hodelín of Cuba finished third at 8.18 (26-10).
Sioli won the men’s high jump at 2.28 (7-5¾) in a competition in which Erick Portillo of Mexico finished second at 2.23 (7-3¾) and Romaine Beckford of Jamaica placed third at the same height.
Portillo finished ahead of Beckford because he had fewer total misses than the Jamaican.
Gabriel Tual of France won the men’s 800 meters in 1:43.66 in an event that did not count toward points in the Diamond League standings.
Tual had a small lead over compatriot Yanis Meziane and Donavan Brazier of the U.S. when he entered the final home straightaway and he ended up holding off a late charge from Mark English of Ireland, who placed second in 1:43.80.
Francesco Pernici of Italy finished third in 1:43.97.
You can click here for results and quotes from Thursday’s meet.
The next Diamond League meet will be the BAUHAUS-galan competition in Stockholm on Sunday.
The meet will be shown on flotrack.org, starting at 10 a.m. EDT.
You can click here for a schedule of events and a list of entrants.