Liam Adcock snatches last-ditch win with clutch jump as three Aussies land on Diamond League podium

Australia's Liam Adcock produced the leap of his life to snatch victory at the death in the men's long jump at the Rome Diamond League meet on Saturday (AEST).

Australian middle-distance runners Sarah Billings and Abbey Caldwell also landed on the podium in the Italian capital, finishing second and third respectively in the women's 1500 metres.

Adcock was placed third heading into the sixth and final round, trailing reigning Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou and the man who won gold at this year's world indoor championships, Mattia Furlani.

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The 28-year-old then soared further than he ever had in his life, a distance of 8.34 metres, to leapfrog both global gold medallists and win by 21 centimetres.

Local hope Furlani finished second with a jump of 8.13m, while Tentoglou of Greece took third with a 7.97m.

A jubilant Adcock pulled off a twisting flip of sorts when the distance of his final jump was confirmed to be 8.34m.

"That happened to me in Xiamen [at the first leg of the Diamond League season]; I was leading the whole way and then in the last round got overtaken, so I was like, 'It's my turn to clutch up now'," said Adcock, a quintessential underdog competing in his University of Sydney singlet.

"I reckon I have a bit of clutch factor so it was great to be able to express that and jump a PB [personal best].

"I wasn't feeling that great leading into it but Furlani got the crowd fired up, obviously a home crowd for him, and it got me going, too.

"I'm old now which is tough; it's making it difficult to get any interest from sponsors. But I just keep showing up and doing what I can.

"I had a lot of years of injuries and this is my first year on the big boy circuit."

Ireland's Sarah Healy won the women's 1500m in 3:59.17, ahead of Australia's Billings (3:59.24) and Caldwell (3:59.32), who recorded personal bests.

Caldwell sat 11th at the bell, and was boxed in, but the 23-year-old wriggled out of congestion, surged past a few runners on the back straight, overtook another clump of runners on the bend, and kicked past one more on the home straight to finish third.

Billings, who sat ninth at the bell, also had a huge amount of work to do over the final lap.

Adcock, Billings and Caldwell were all among the initial group of Australian athletes selected in April for this year's world championships, to be hosted by Tokyo in September.

Oliver Hoare, the 2022 Commonwealth Games gold medallist in the men's 1500m, pencilled in his first world championship qualifier at the Rome Diamond League meet.

The two-time Olympian finished ninth in the 1500m in 3:31.15, well under the 3:33.00 entry standard.

The Diamond League circuit will continue in Oslo, Norway next Friday (AEST).