In its 90-year history, Italy had never won European Athletics Championships gold in the men’s shot put. Then came Roma 2024.
Backed by a raucous home crowd, Leonardo Fabbri delivered one of the defining performances of the championships to end the drought and write his name into Italian athletics history.
Ahead of the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham from 10–16 August 2026, we’re looking back at 26 unforgettable moments from the championships. Few were more memorable than the giant Italian’s golden night in Rome.
The background
Italy boasts one of Europe’s richest athletics traditions, but success in the men’s throws has come only in waves.
The first golden era belonged to discus legends Adolfo Consolini and Giuseppe Tosi, who claimed gold and silver at three successive European Athletics Championships in Oslo 1946, Brussels 1950 and Bern 1954. They also finished first and second at the London 1948 Olympic Games.
The next great chapter was written by Alessandro Andrei. The powerful shot putter won Olympic gold in Los Angeles in 1984 and world silver in Rome in 1987 — the same year he set a world record of 22.91m and became the first man to produce a complete series of throws beyond 22 metres.
Four decades later, Italy had assembled another formidable generation of shot putters. Nick Ponzio, Zane Weir and Leonardo Fabbri all emerged as genuine international contenders.
Ponzio delighted home fans by winning the Rome Diamond League before narrowly missing the podium with fourth place at the Munich 2022 European Athletics Championships. Weir finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics before claiming European indoor gold in Istanbul in 2023.
But as Roma 2024 approached, Fabbri had established himself as Italy’s leading medal hope. He announced himself with a surprise world silver medal in Budapest in 2023 before adding world indoor bronze in Glasgow the following spring.
Just over a month before the championships, Fabbri produced the performance of his life on home soil in Modena, launching the shot 22.88m. The throw moved him to third on the European all-time list behind Ulf Timmermann (23.06m) and fellow Italian Andrei (22.91m), confirming his status as the favourite for gold.
What happened
Fabbri wasted little time making his intentions clear.
On the opening evening of Roma 2024, he booked his place in the final with a single throw of 21.10m, comfortably beyond the automatic qualifying mark.
The rest of the field found conditions far less forgiving. No one else managed the 20.70m automatic standard, with defending champion Filip Mihaljević settling for 20.69m before passing his final attempt. Fabbri’s training partner, Zane Weir, squeezed into the final as the last qualifier with 19.71m.
By the time the final arrived on 8 June, Italy’s golden wave was already building. Nadia Battocletti had won the women’s 5000m the previous evening, while Antonella Palmisano added the women’s 20km race walk title earlier that day.
There was a growing sense that another special night awaited. Alongside Fabbri, Olympic 100m champion Marcell Jacobs, sprint hurdler Lorenzo Simonelli and long jump sensation Mattia Furlani were all expected to challenge for medals.
Mihaljević struck first, opening with 21.10m to show he would not surrender his title easily.
Then Fabbri ignited the Stadio Olimpico.
In the second round, the Italian unleashed a magnificent 22.15m to seize control of the competition. None of his rivals could respond.
With victory all but secured, Fabbri delivered one final flourish. In the fifth round he launched the shot to a championship record of 22.45m, sparking wild celebrations from the home crowd.
Mihaljević improved to 21.20m in the final round to secure silver, while Poland’s Michał Haratyk claimed bronze with 20.94m.
It proved to be one of the greatest nights in Italian athletics history. Jacobs and Simonelli also struck gold, while Furlani completed the evening with long jump silver.
The aftermath
Roma 2024 became a landmark championships for the hosts. Italy topped the medal table with an astonishing 24 medals, including 11 gold.
Later that summer, Fabbri surpassed one of the most enduring marks in Italian athletics, throwing 22.98m in Brussels to break Andrei’s 39-year-old national record.
He has remained among the world’s elite, adding another global medal with bronze at the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships. He is favourite to defend his title at the Birmingham 2026 European Athletics Championships on 10-17 August.