Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece retained his men’s long jump title with an extraordinary sequence of five big eight-metre jumps which culminated in him setting a championship record, new personal best and world lead of 8.65m with his two final efforts.
In an electrifying competition, the 26-year-old Olympic and world champion laid down a huge first-round marker of 8.42m, and after a second-round foul he then registered 8.49m and 8.45m before his concluding flourish, beating both times his previous personal best of 8.60m set in 2021.
Furlani sets World U20 record
Adding to the spectacle of a competition taking place on the raised platform built at the foot of the back-straight stand was a challenge from Italy’s 19-year-old rising talent Mattia Furlani, who roused the crowd’s decibel levels as he answered Tentoglou’s opener with one of his own – a world U20 record of 8.38m, adding two centimetres to the mark he set earlier this year.
The home athlete did all he could to maintain his competitiveness as the defending champion moved farther away, but two jumps that looked seriously long were ruled out as fouls, including the last.
Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer, who had set a 2024 world-leading mark of 8.41m in qualifying, secured bronze with a third-round effort of 8.31m, and Britain’s Jacob Fincham-Dukes was fourth on 8.12m.
Tentoglou striving for records
“I managed the PB - twice the same mark. I do not know, this is impossible - only me can do it,” said the peerless Greek jumper.
“I wanted to do 1cm more to improve our national record but it just did not happen. My coach told me after the first 8.65m that I should push myself even more because I could do it. I told him, that I did five jumps around 8.50 all of them and I felt tired.
“I am dead, I gave my everything. And he said: ‘Come on, you can do it!’ And I did it - I tried but I was very tired.”
Mike Rowbottom for European Athletics