Gianmarco Tamberi is once again king of Europe. Shortly after Nadia Battocletti's triumph in the 10,000 meters, Gimbo's gold medal in the high jump sealed the triumphant evening for the Italian national team, a race in which Matteo Sioli took bronze.
His first jump at 2.18 was a poor one, but Tamberi then gained momentum, clearing 2.23 and 2.27. Along with him was Matteo Sioli, who had to retire due to injury after having secured his personal bronze medal and the Italian double. It was a final-centimeter duel between the Italian Superman and his Ukrainian alter-ego, Oleh Doroshchuk. Tamberi entered his momentum, rallied his crowd, sounded the charge, and after a failed attempt, managed to clear the pole vault set at 2.32. Doroshchuk's attempt to clear the bar was in vain; Gianmarco won another gold medal and confirmed his dominance of Europe.
The "terrible jumps" of the qualifiers turned into a masterpiece for his daughter Camilla, who was in the crowd to cheer on her "Babà" on his first birthday. Her dad had promised it just hours before he was crowned European champion again in an Instagram post: "Having you sitting in the stands tonight clapping your hands in time is an immense privilege. Perhaps it's a coincidence, or perhaps a sign of destiny, the fact remains that today I'll fly again for you." A promise kept.
A perfect day for the Italian team, capped off by Fausto Desalu's bronze in the 200 meters (the first individual medal of his long career), and kicked off the Birmingham slopes with a new Italian record set by the Italian men's 4x400 sprinters, with a time of 2:58.10. Thanks to the new record stamped on the scoreboards, Edoardo Scotti, Luca Sito, Mohamed Soudassi, and Lorenzo Benati advanced to the final of the competition, also setting a championship record.
Italy currently leads the medal table with 5 golds, 2 silvers, and 3 bronzes. Great Britain (4-5-1) and Germany (3-5-4) follow. France, Switzerland, and Norway also have three golds.
(Unioneonline)
