After five out of six competition days, the first three of ten Gold Crown winners at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships have been confirmed.
The 400m hurdles winners Karsten Warholm of Norway and Femke Bol of the Netherlands each have finished on top in the sprints and hurdles group for male and female athletes.
And in the throws, Croatia’s Sandra Elkasevic is winner of the female competition, based on her gold medal winning performances in Saturday’s (8) women’s discus.
Warholm’s 46.98 performance in the men’s event on Tuesday (11) was enough to overtake Italy's 110m hurdles winner Lorenzo Simonelli by 40 points.
The crown and the 50,000EUR prize for the same category on the women’s side also belongs to the 400m hurdles champion: Netherland’s superstar Femke Bol. With her finish of 52.49, also on Tuesday (11), she overtook Poland’s 400m winner Natalia Kaczmarek by only six points.
Final day
For the remaining categories of middle and long distance events, throws, jumps, as well as the combined category for road, relays, and combined events, the Gold Crown winners will be determined on the final day of competitions on Wednesday (12).
In the middle and long distance, currently in the lead are 3000m steeplechase winner Alexis Miellet of France and 5000m and 10,000m winner Nadia Battocletti of Italy, for her run in the shorter distance.
In the throws, Italy’s Leonardo Fabbri heads the leaderboard in the men’s throws with his gold medal winning victory in Saturday’s (8) shot put.
For the jumps, Jordan Diaz Fortun from Spain, men’s triple jump champion and Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh, women’s high jump winner are on top heading into the final day.
Whilst in the road, combined events and relays category, men’s 20km walk winner Perseus Karlström of Sweden and heptathlon winner Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium, occupy the top spots respectively.
The newly implemented Gold Crown contest keeps fans engaged through the six days of competition in Rome, right to the very last event.
There are ten Gold Crowns on offer that each come along with 50,000 Euros going to the five women and five men who produce the best performances in their group of events. The final day’s competition will see finals in the men’s 1500m, men’s 10,000m, women’s 800m, men’s javelin throw, men’s pole vault, women’s long jump and the 4x100m and 4x400m relays for both men and women.
So with athletes of the capability of Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Mondo Duplantis, Malaika Mihambo in action on the final night at the Stadio Olimpico, a lot can still change.
Annika Saunus for European Athletics