Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi (© Getty Images)
Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi will take on a quality high jump line-up at the Golden Spike Ostrava when he returns to the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting on Tuesday 31 May.
The Italian, who won his first major title at the 2016 World Indoor Championships, last month claimed world indoor bronze in Belgrade with 2.31m off the back of broken preparation. With the outdoor season as his main focus in 2022, Tamberi will compete at the Wanda Diamond League meetings in Doha and Birmingham before heading to Ostrava – all key stepping stones towards the World Athletics Championships Oregon22.
In Ostrava Tamberi will face Commonwealth champion and Oceanian record-holder Brandon Starc, Olympic finalist Tom Gayle of Great Britain, Czech champion Marek Bahnik and European U23 champion Jan Stefla, also of the Czech Republic.
Organisers of the meeting are hopeful that, after two years of pandemic measures, spectators will return in full to the City Stadium.
Organisers of the Fanny Blankers Koen Games have announced that Olympic bronze medallist Femke Bol will contest her first 400m hurdles race of the season at the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold meeting in Hengelo on 6 June.
Last year Bol set a European 400m hurdles record of 52.03 when finishing third at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, making her the third-fastest woman in history in the discipline. More recently she took 400m silver at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade.
“I am over the moon to finally race in the Netherlands in front of a full stadium,” said Bol. “Because of all the Covid regulations in recent years, I’ve not yet had this opportunity. As a child I always went to the FBK Games as a fan and now I get to race in front of the amazing fans. I am already looking forward to 6 June and hope to run a beautiful but mainly fast race in lead-up to the World and European Championships.”
In other Continental Tour Gold news, organisers of the Seiko Golden Grand Prix Tokyo have confirmed the participation of Japan’s leading jumpers for the competition on 8 May.
Olympic finalist and 2018 world U20 champion Yuki Hashioka will take on Shoutarou Shiroyama, who holds the national record at 8.40m, in the men’s long jump.
Elsewhere, Naoto Tobe will face Tomohiro Shinno and Yuto Seko in the men’s high jump, while Sumire Hata will compete in the women’s long jump.
