Marcell Jacobs (photo Lapresse)
Record-breaking Italy at the European Athletics Championships in Rome, 24 medals with 11 gold and first place in the medal table
The Italy of athletics, magical, extraordinary, spectacular and historic. The Foro Italico was the most appropriate cradle for writing a beautiful and exciting page for Italian sport as it looks to the world, therefore to the 2024 Paris Olympics which will begin in just over a month. Italy won 24 medals (11 gold, 9 silver and 4 bronze), exactly double the previous record dating back to Split ’90 when Yugoslavia was still united and the Soviet Union still existed. No one had predicted twenty-four medals but Italian athletics since the Tokyo Games in 2021 has been a crescendo. The victory of the European Team Championship (never before) in June last year in Poland was an important step towards the triumphs of the Roman nights. For the first time the Azzurri celebrate first place in the medal table, so far in the fourth at most (the pursuers stuck at four gold were France, Great Britain and Norway), and in the points classification where the best placing was third two years ago .
European Athletics Championships, Mattarella is the first Italy fan in the stands of the Olympic stadium
Many were interested in these six full immersion days of the ‘Queen of Sports’: the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, a great sports fan, wanted to enjoy two evenings at the Olimpico. Also with him were several ministers, as well as the president of CONI, Giovanni Malago’ and the number one in Italian athletics, Stefano Mei. In the first the Head of State applauded the gold of an immense Gianmarco Tamberi, the third European gold of his career in the high jump, and the surprising one of Nadia Battocletti in the 10,000 meters paired with that of the 5000, in the second it was stood up for the silver medals in the men’s 4x400m and Larissa Iapichino in the long run, and above all for the spectacular triumph of the men’s 4x100m relay driven by a phenomenal Marcell Jacobs but also by a Filippo Tortu in great form, Lorenzo Patta safety sprinter and Matteo Melluzzo man -relay race.
European Athletics Championships 2024, Italy’s dream medals: from Marcel Jacobs to Gimbo Tamberi, Battocletti gold-bis and Iapichino silver
The first gold medal had already arrived in the first race thanks to Antonella Palmisano in the 20 kilometer walk (silver Valentina Trapletti), a distance that will see her at the starting line in Paris as title holder. To boast the title of European champion, Leonardo Fabbri, for all the sure gold, in the shot put, Marcell Jacobs in the 100 meters (silver for Chituru Ali), Lorenzo Simonelli in the 110 hurdles, Yeman Crippa in the half marathon (silver Pietro Riva) with team gold attached, Sara Fantini, sensational first gold in the women’s throwing sector at the European Championships, then Tamberi, Battocletti twice and the men’s fast relay.
The 4×100 of Melluzzo, Jacobs, Patta and Tortu triumphs in 37″82 proving to be the masters of the race with an abysmal advantage over Holland (38″46) and Germany (38″52) for what is the largest gap ever in the continental event. After the Olympic gold three years ago and the world silver last season, it is the first European title in history for the fast Italian quartet. Silver thanks to great willpower for Larissa Iapichino who reached the podium on the last jump of an exciting challenge in the long run with 6.94 just one centimeter from his personal best and three from his indoor record. A growing competition for the Florentine, 6.82 on the first jump, 6.84 on the second, nil on the third, 6.86 on the fourth, 6.90 on the fifth and 6.94 on the sixth. For Larissa a silver that repeats that of mother Fiona May won on 22 August 1998 in Budapest, 26 years ago. Gold went to the German Malaika Mihambo with 7.22 (wind +1.4 meters per second) and best world performance of the year, bronze to the Portuguese Agate de Sousa with 6.91. Fourth was the Teutonic Mikaelle Assani with the same measure.
On the last evening silver for the men’s 4×400 relay with Luca Sito, Vladimir Aceti, Riccardo Meli, Edoardo Scotti in 3’00″81 behind Belgium (2’59″84) and ahead of Germany preceded by one hundredth. The girls in the mile relay came fourth with a new Italian record: Ilaria Accame, Giancarla Trevisan, Anna Polinari, Alice Mangione finished in 3’23″40, almost half a second less than last year’s 3’23″86 in heat at the World Championships in Budapest. In the 1500 meters which saw the Norwegian phenomenon Jakob Ingebrigtsen win the third consecutive continental gold (3’31″95), excellent bronze for Pietro Arese (3’33″34) who was preceded at the finish line by the Belgian Jochem Vermeulen (3’33″30). The appointment with the XXVII edition of the European Championships will be from 10 to 16 August 2026 in Birmingham, Great Britain.
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