To tell the truth, I did not expect the European Championships to be of that high a level just two months before the Olympîcs. Granted, not everybody present in Rome would be going to Paris but even so, in many instances, the performances were impressive. It's as if the Europeans were a springboard for the Olympics. In any case, I did really enjoy the Championships, using my VPN and connecting to the greek television who had a comprehensive coverage. (The french TV was covering only the evening events).
M. Jacobs kept the 100 m title he had won two years ago in Münich. While his performance 10.02 s (still a season's best) was not outstanding, he improved it shortly afterwards to 9.92 s (but I'm afraid that even the later will not suffice for starring in the Games). The 200 m held a surprise, in fact a bad one, for F. Tortu who was the pre-race favourite. Running from 9th lane T. Mumenthaler won in 20.28 s, Tortu, with 20.41 s just upgrading his Münich bronze to silver in Rome. A. Doom, added the European 400 m outdoor title to this winter's indoor world champion one, winning with a championships record of 44.15 s. Still I regret the absence of the European record holder M.Hudson-Smith. G. Tual won the 800 m in a clever tactical race with 1:44.87.
When it comes to 1500 m and 5000 m the situation in Europe tends to become monotonous. J. Ingebrigtsen won both races (3:31.95 and 13:20.11) just as he had done two and six years ago. What is funny is that Ingebrigtsen, has never won the world title over the shorter distance, beaten in 2022 and 2023 by british runners, Wightman and Kerr, respectively. (They had finished 4th, 5th and 6th in the 2019 World's, in a race won by T. Cheruiyot). The 10000 m race saw the victory with 28:00.32 of south-sudanese D.L. Lobalu, who is now running for Switzerland but was previously member of the refugee team. (His victory is not really a surprise since his personal best is a quite respectalble 27:13). When the Europeans are held in the year of the Olympics a semi-marathon race is replacing the full Marathon one. There was an italian triumph in Rome with Y. Crippa and P. Riva trusting the first two places, 1:01:03 and 1:01:04, and leading Italy to a team victory. The team of Israel was second, a team composed entirely by ex-ethiopian runners.
I was a little bit sad when M. Trajkovic could not make it to the final of the men's 110 m hurdles. The race was won by L. Simonelli with 13.05 s, while reigning A. Martinez could do no better that fifth. K. Warholm won easily the 400 m hurdles with 46.98 s. W. Happio, who was silver medalist in Münich, exited at the semis, due to an unlucky drawing of heats, despite registering the 7th time overall. French runners dominated the steeple race obtaining even a one-two in the men's event with A. Mielet and D. Bedrani with times 8:14.01 and 8:14.36.
The relays held no surprise. Italy dominated the 4x100 event winning in 37.82 s. Greece was present in the final thanks to the new rule that whenever a withdrawal is announced before the race the athlete or the team is replaced by the next one in the qualification order. Belgium won the men's 4x400 m event in 2:59.84 (and this time with just one Borlée in the team).
D. Asher-Smith confirmed her position as the leading European sprinter winning the women's 100 m with 10.99 s, ahead of E. Swoboda and Z. Dosso, 11.03 s for both. P. van der Weken would have been a suprise Luxembourgish medalist, had she repeated her 11.00 performance in the semis. With 11.04 s she was fourth beating the reigning champion G. Lückenkemper. (And less than a month later van der Weken celebrated her first Diamond League victory). M. Kambundji held off D. Neita, 22.49 to 22.50 s, to win the 200 m race. P. Emmanouilidou, at just 20 years of age, made her first major final. She was one of the two runners to qualify on the basis of their time, the other one being H. Parisot who went on to win bronze 22.63 in the final.
The 400 m was one of the best races of the championships. I would have bet on gold for R. Adeleke but N. Kaczmarek race was just perfect. In the end she won with 48.98 s to Adeleke's 49.07. L. Klaver, based on her bad experience in the mixed relay, played it safe and ran a cautious first half, being rewarded with a 50.08 s and bronze medal. And one athlete I am going to keep an eye on is 18 years old L. Manuel for Czechia who was fourth with 50.52 s.
K. Hodgkinson took an early command of the 800 m and she was never threatened. She won easily with 1:58.65. Now we'll have to wait and see what she will do in the Olympics in the absence of her arch-rival A. Mu. G. Reekie may have figured as the main favourite of the 1500 m race, but my preference went to C. Mageean. And I was right. She won in 4:04.56 by running cleverly, bidding her time and passing between Bell and Reekie on the final stretch. E. Guerrero paid the price of launching her attack too late just missing out on the medals while Reekie finished a diappointing 5th. N. Battocletti started by winning the 10000 m in 30.51.32 (and Italian record) and then went on to double her haul by winning also the 5000 in a championships record of 14:35.29. K. Grovdal won the semi marathon in 1:08.09 but that was not enough for her and she went on to win silver in the 10000 m.
When Samba-Mayela won the world 100 m hurdles indoor title in 2022 I was somewhat reserved. After all she was an almost unknown athlete who might have had a lucky day. But when she confirmed this year with a silver in the Glasgow indoors it was clear that she had to be taken seriously. Still, the favourite was M. Kambundji who was in top form. And she proved this in the final with a 12.40 s European U23 record. But Samba-Mayela was unbeatable. She flew through the race and finished with in 12.31 s, a championships record and fastest time in Europe since more than 20 years. Reigning champion P. Skrykowska was third with 12.42 s, followed by C. Sember 4th 12.56 s and N. Vissser 5th 12.72 s.
F. Bol did not have to push herself to win the 400 m hurdles. She finished in 52.49 s, which is still a championships record. Most European tv commentators like to present her as serious threat to S. McLaughlin. But I beg to differ. Bol is a great champion but McLaughlin is still greater. The only one who could beat her was D. Muhammad back in the day. (I don't remember a more exciting race than the duel Muhammad-McLaughlin in Doha during the 2019 World's).
Just as in the men's race there was a french victory in the women's 3000 steeple, A. Finot winning with 9:16.22. (Reigning champion L. Gega could do no better than 5th place). I haven't followed the Friday morning session and so I had missed the "accident" of F. Renaud. I learned about this by my Décapassion friends F. & P. Gousset. Running in qualifiers F. Renaud was totally exhausted at the end of the race and when it came to the river jump she could not negotiate it and she fell in the water. She managed to finish the race but it was too late for the qualification.
Great Britain won, as expected, the 4x100 relay in 41.91 ahead of France, 42.15 s, and the Nethelands 42.46 s. The dutch team was the incontestable favourite for the 4x400 m title and they won indeed in 3:22.39, ahead of Ireland 3:22.71 and Belgium 3:22.95. They were also the favourites for the 4x400 m mixed relay but there they lost to an amazing Irish team (probably due to a rather slow leg by Bonevacia and Klaver who was trapped by Adeleke into running exceedingly fast the first half). Be that as it may, Ireland had a great 49.53 s split by Adeleke and, most importantly, an amazing 49.40 s anchor by S. Mawdsley. Italy was second in 3:10.69 and the Netherlands third in 3:10.73.
And, please, don't ask about race-walking.
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