The fifth Diamond League athletics meeting of 2025 took place in Rome, and there were two South Africans in action in the Italian capital.
Zakithi Nene was understandably short of the epic 43.76sec he had clocked in Kenya recently, but he pushed Quincy Hall all the way, being beaten in a photo finish with the American timing 44.22 and Nene 44.23. It was a season’s best for Hall, but Nene remains the fastest in the world over one lap this season.
In the women’s 400m hurdles, Zeney van der Walt finished fifth in 55.29sec, in a race won by Jamaica’s Andrenette Knight (53.67).
After a slow start, Hall moved ahead of Nene before the South African took over on the final bend. But Hall chased Nene down in the closing stages and just won on the dip.
America’s sprinters are starting to warm into their season and Akani Simbine’s fastest time of 2025 has now been nudged down to third after Trayvon Bromell, a two-time Olympian and two-time world bronze medallist, produced his fastest time in the event in over three years to blitz the field in Rome, starting quickly and never looking back to cross the line in 9.84 seconds.
