Germany's Jonathan Hummel won gold in a dramatic men's pole vault final at the Rieti 2026 European Athletics U18 Championships on Saturday.
The decisive moment came at 5.10m, when just four athletes remained in contention: Hummel, Italy's Gabriele Belardi, France's Axel Faye and Czechia's Lukáš Kratochvíl.
After each athlete had failed twice, Faye cleared the bar on his third and final attempt, improving his personal best by 10cm in the process.
Hummel responded to the pressure by also clearing 5.10m on his third attempt, but Belardi and Kratochvíl were unable to follow.
Both had already recorded misses at earlier heights and perhaps paid the price for accumulated fatigue.
With the bar raised to 5.15m, Hummel cleared it on his second attempt to set a new personal best and move to the top of the European U18 rankings.
Faye could not match the German and had to settle for silver, while Kratochvíl took bronze by virtue of a first-time clearance at 5.00m.
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