The Return Of Trayvon Bromell At Diamond League Rome

Forbes

4 hours ago

ROME, ITALY - JUNE 06: Trayvon Bromell of USA celebrates after winning in Men's 100m during the ... More Golden Gala Pietro Mennea, part of the 2025 Diamond League at Stadio Olimpico on June 06, 2025 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by)
Nearly three years ago. That was the last time Trayvon Bromell won a Wanda Diamond League race at 100 meters.
Three years can sometimes feel like a lifetime in track and field.
But on Friday in Italy, at Diamond League Rome outing, the St. Petersburg, Florida native turned back time, rushing out of the blocks with a blistering 0.112 reaction time en route to a dominant win in 9.84 seconds, leaving the field behind as he logged a new world best time over the 2025 season.
It was his first World No. 1 performance since 2021.
'It's a blessing to come out here and put God first,' Bromell said afterward of the meet otherwise known as the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea, 'and go out there and execute the race. It was a great field.'
ROME, ITALY - JUNE 06: Trayvon Bromell of Team United States celebrates following victory in the ... More Men's 100m Final during the Golden Gala Pietro Mennea, part of the 2025 Diamond League at Stadio Olimpico on June 06, 2025 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by)
Much has changed in those three years. An Olympic cycle has passed. New global stars like Noah Lyles and Kishane Thompson have emerged.
Bromell is nearing 30, and he's been a professional for nearly a decade. He last reached the Olympics in 2021, failing to reach the final during the pandemic-altered Games in Tokyo. Five years earlier, he was eighth in Rio.
It's been nearly a decade since his last world medal – an indoor title that same year in Portland, Oregon.
Time often slips for aging sprinters. But Friday's performance was a reminder that he has not lost a step.
'I've been away for a while now—and being able to compete at a high level probably since 2022,' the 29-year-old said, 'so it was definitely a lot of jitters. I'm not going to sit here and act like nerves weren't there. I was definitely nervous, because I didn't know what to expect.'
While an oblique strain limited his indoor season, with Bromell shutting things down after the Millrose Games in February, he began to ramp things back up in April, starting first with efforts at 200 meters in April at his former home Baylor University, before following just a few weeks later down the road at the University of Texas.
A month later, he found the right touch down the straightaway, clocking a time of 9.91 at the National Training Center in Clermont, Florida, submitting his first sub-10 performance since September of 2022—where he ran 9.94 at the Wanda Diamond League in Zurich, Switzerland.
Of course, Bromell knew one time didn't cut it.
'Everyone will have their speculation about it being in the United States,' he said. 'Can you do it overseas? Can you do it when the pressure is on? That was one thing running through my mind.'
ROME, ITALY - JUNE 06: Trayvon Bromell of USA competes in Men's 100m during the Golden Gala Pietro ... More Mennea, part of the 2025 Diamond League at Stadio Olimpico on June 06, 2025 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by)
Bromell had every right to wonder on Friday, with a field in Rome that included in-form sprinters and men arriving less than a year off the Paris Olympics.
His U.S. colleagues Fred Kerley and Courtney Lindsey and Brandon Hicklin all found themselves in the field. So did Kenya's Ferdinand Omanyala and Cameroonian Emmanuel Eseme.
Bromell, however, never gave the field a chance, slipping out of the bocks with a reaction time that was nearly perfect, just one-hundredth of a second away from an illegal start. He took his drive phase with beautiful ease before running into the final meters with precision.
Like his old self.
'Never lose my faith,' Bromell told FloTrack, the Diamond League streaming partner, afterward. 'And man, that's what, that's what really got me through this. Because even coming to the race I was having, like, doubt thoughts, like, 'Man, am I gonna run fast? Like, was the 9.91 real?''
Bromell alluded to some personal growth over his recent lean years, owing to the fact that he spoke with former U.S. sprinter and Olympic champion Justin Gatlin, who advised him to see a therapist. What Bromell learned, he said, was that he was not invincible, even at his best.
'2021, that was me second-guessing that nobody will be able to beat me,' Bromell said of his career-best year. 'I'm the fastest guy. And I'm never going to have that mindset going into a race again, because you never know how someone is feeling that day.'
The result from Rome was an eye-opener. Just eight-hundredths off his personal best of 9.76 from 2021, Bromell gave a strong sense that he's right back in the mix when it comes to qualifying for the World Championships.
Which only adds to the fire for an American contingent that exited the Paris Olympics, between Noah Lyles and Kerley, with gold and bronze, while a third, Kenneth Bednarek, was seventh and now has proceeded to run into the best form of his life with Grand Slam Track.
But in track and field, if years are like lifetimes, then races are quickly-fleeting moments, worth only as much as the memories they serve.
Will Bromell continue to capture his old form again and again? Time will give him his answer, but at least in Rome, there was no one better.
'I will study the film,' Bromell said of his race, adding, 'We will sit down and talk and take it from there.'