Milaniia Kokhan sealed Ukraine’s first gold of the championships with a mammoth 70.19m throw in the final round in Rieti moments after being bumped into second by France’s Loan Rodride and Slovenia’s Oriana Lovrec on Friday (17).
You would be right in thinking you may have seen the Kokhan name atop of the podium at these championships before, as her older brother Mykhaylo Kokhan took gold in the hammer at the Gyor 2018 European Athletics U18 Championships with a world U18 best of 87.82m.
The top five all threw at least one PB, causing the top three to constantly change, with silver medallist Rodride threw three PBs and Great Britain’s Sophie Robertson in fifth place threw two.
“I do not know how I managed the last throw, I still had a lot of power and the level of my adrenaline was so high after the French girl took the lead with her last throw. I just said: now or never and I managed to win.
“I am so happy to be here and want to say big thank you to my family, my friends, my team and first of all, to the best brother in the world, Mykhaylo Kokhan. I love you Misha," said the winner.
"I needed to make history today. My brother won, and now I won at these championships. We train together every day, at our training camp in Estonia we share a room and I have lots of fun with him.
“My father is a great coach. My brother is not here because he had a competition in Budapest, but he is waiting for me in Estonia. We are going to celebrate tonight with the team.”
Kokhan held the lead for nearly the whole competition, throwing 67.07m in the first round to immediately put out a strong mark for her competitors to challenge.
She then improved to 67.62m in the third round, and 67.67m in the fifth round before being, temporarily, dethroned by Rodride's massive PB.
Coming into the championships, her PB stood at 65.06m, but in the third round she threw 65.17m, then 65.57m in the fifth, before her monster 68.81m in the sixth and final round to threaten for gold.
But Kokhan used the adrenaline pumped into her by Rodride's PB to launch her hammer beyond 70 metres for the first time.
Lovrec, who took bronze, also improved her PB by over one metre, much to her relief as she screamed and ran to her supporters as soon as the distance of 67.02m flashed up on the board.
*Geoblocking restrictions apply in territories where Rieti 2026 is being covered by a national broadcaster