Roman revenge!
In 55 BC, Julius Caesar and the Romans came to Britain, and their influence remains to this day, with at least 40 cities (Manchester, Bath, Exeter, Winchester, Canterbury, etc.) owing their origins to the Roman period. This week, the Brits invaded Rome and came away with the spoils, with wins for Georgia Hunter-Bell and Molly Caudery.
Molly Caudery, who retained her World Indoor pole-vault title in Poland earlier this year, won again in the Golden Gala, Rome Diamond League. The top three Caudery, Nina Kennedy, and Angelica Moser all cleared 4.80. Caudery, leading on countback, passed at 4.85, and when Kennedy and Moser failed, the victory was hers.
Caudery, who is coached by her dad and Scott Simpson, commented afterward: “I had a short approach with 10 steps. I had a great indoor season, and sometimes you need to take a deep breath; it is a journey. I think it was a smart move to skip 4.85 because I just came back from Rabat, there was a bit of a risk, and I wanted to take it easy, not to pressure my body. Having home championships and competing in the Diamond League are super important to me. It is fabulous to attract the crowd. I am taking everything in here, also the 12x200m relay”.
Georgia Hunter-Bell, who also won the World Indoors earlier this year, took the 1500m in Rome in 3:58.63. She said afterward, “It was a fast last lap; it felt hard today. I need evidence to gain confidence. I am really happy, happy about the way I ran the race. In every race, you have to be your A-game. Tonight, the third lap was slow. At the 1500m, anything can go any way, that is so interesting about the 1500m. So you have to be prepared for every scenario”.
About her plans for the summer, she said: “It will be difficult to go for both the Commonwealth Games and the European championships. I prefer to win one, so I will probably just stick to one championship. Plus I would like to come first in the Diamond League final as I came second last year. I want to get my win there”.
There was a high-level women’s 200m won by Julian Alfred (2024 Olympic 100 gold and 200m silver) from Melissa Jefferson-Wooden (gold and silver at the 2025 World Champs). Amy Hunt, who trains in Northern Italy, was fourth in 22.52 with Dina Asher-Smith fourth in 22.52.
Amber Anning, running her first race of the summer (first since mid-March), was fifth in the 400m in 50.19, with Keely Hodgkinson running a PB in the same race in 51.14.
Among other British athletes, Jeremiah Azu was a disappointing ninth in the 100m, and Laura Muir was 14th in 4:10.54 in the 1500.
