Miltiadis Tentoglou will go down as one of the greatest long jumpers the sport has ever known. As of 2026, the Greek athlete has accrued two Olympic gold medals, two world titles, two world indoor titles and three European indoor titles.
He has also won gold at three successive European Athletics Championships, with arguably the greatest performance of his storied career coming at Roma 2024.
In the lead-up to Birmingham 2026, taking place from 10-16 August, we are looking back at 26 classic moments from the European Athletics Championships, including one of the highest-quality field events in history.
The background
With his grip on every major global and European title, Miltiadis Tentoglou arrived at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships as one of the biggest stars in the sport.
The long jumper had become a national hero and one of the most reliable gold medal winners in athletics. Since 2021, he had frequently jumped beyond 8.50m, taking him well beyond the reach of his contemporaries.
But by 2024, new challengers had emerged. Nineteen-year-old Italian hope Mattia Furlani had exploded onto the scene, winning European U18 and European U20 titles, and in the lead-up to Rome had increased his personal best to 8.36m.
Swiss decathlete Simon Ehammer had also established himself as a world-class long jumper, winning world bronze in the discipline in 2022 and leaping to a personal best of 8.45m.
What happened?
With a unique raised platform for the horizontal jumps, athletes were finding some extra spring in both the long jump and triple jump at the Stadio Olimpico.
Ehammer shook the field in qualifying when he landed a massive world-leading 8.41m with his opening jump and sent out a huge signal of intent for the final.
Tentoglou qualified safely with 8.14m, while Furlani also progressed with 8.17m. But both would have to improve significantly to contend for gold a day later.
Of the three favourites, Tentoglou was the first to jump in the final and leapt out to a mesmerising 8.42m—1cm farther than Ehammer's qualifying mark—to lay down the gauntlet. Furlani responded with a world U20 record of 8.38m in the opening round to ignite the contest.
Ehammer then began to reveal his form in the third round with a booming 8.31m. But it was Tentoglou who consistently produced the goods.
He extended his lead with 8.49m in the third round before backing it up with 8.45m in the fourth. Try as they might, Furlani and Ehammer were unable to match the brilliant Greek.
Then, to emphasise his superiority, Tentoglou unfurled a new championship record and personal best of 8.65m in the fifth round. Incredibly, he repeated the distance in the sixth and final round to underline a famous victory. Furlani and Ehammer had to settle for silver and bronze.
The only frustration for the Greek hero was that he still fell 1cm short of the national record of 8.66m set by Louis Tsatoumas in 2007.
The aftermath
"I managed the PB – twice the same mark. I do not know, this is impossible – only me can do it," said Tentoglou afterwards.
"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 8.50m, 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."
He went on to defend his Olympic title in Paris later that summer. But in 2025, illness and injury hampered his campaign.
Furlani emerged as the new world indoor and outdoor champion, while another challenger appeared in Bulgaria's Bozhidar Sarâboyukov, who won gold at the Apeldoorn 2025 European Athletics Indoor Championships.
But in 2026, Tentoglou has shown a return to form with an early-season leap of 8.49m in Limassol, Cyprus. Ehammer has set a decathlon long jump world record of 8.51m in Götzis, while Sarâboyukov and Furlani have also shown brilliant form with respective leaps of 8.45m and 8.43m.
As if it were not competitive enough, Portugal's Gerson Baldé announced his arrival among the elite of men's long jumping by taking gold at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Toruń with a brilliant 8.46m.
It all points to Birmingham 2026 producing potentially the greatest men's long jump competition in European Athletics Championships history, perhaps even surpassing Roma 2024.