Switzerland moved into the serious end of the medal table at the Roma 2024 European Athletics Championships as day four saw them end up with two golds and a bronze thanks to Angelina Moser in the women’s pole vault, and Timothe Mumenthaler in the concluding men’s 200m.
That leaves the Swiss in fifth place with a total of two golds, one silver and four bronzes.
Mumenthaler, out in lane nine, held off the dogged challenge of home sprinter Filippo Tortu, who ran the anchor leg for Italy when they won 4x100m gold at the Tokyo Games, finishing in 20.28. The home silver medallist clocked 20.41, 0.06 ahead of fellow Swiss William Reais.
“I was kind of isolated on lane 9,” Mumenthaler said. “I felt everything was there for a nice time and a nice place. “I am glad to get my first medal at European Championships. On the home straight I just thought 'you did a nice turn, keep going, keep pushing, finish strong, go and get the line’.
“These are my first European championships and my first target was to get to the final. Then I was hoping for a medal. But it would be bold to say that I expected a gold medal.
“Tonight the magic happened. William and I made history for Switzerland and we want to repeat that at the Olympic Games. Tonight we will celebrate, but not too much because we still have the relays coming.”
Moser adds European outdoor title to her indoor crown
Earlier in the evening Moser, 24, won a pole vault final that ebbed and flowed as she equalled the national record of 4.78m.
Fifth in last year’s World Championships and fourth two years ago in Munich 2022, she looked an unlikely winner when she twice failed her opening height of 4.43m. But she got her act together to clear it at the third attempt.
She then cleared 4.58m at the first attempt but took two attempts to get over 4.68m.
And when she had another failure at 4.73m, gold looked to be between world indoor champion and world leader Molly Caudery of Great Britain and former Olympic, world and two-time European champion Aikaterini Stefanidi of Greece.
The illustrious duo had both cleared 4.73m. But then Moser, who won European indoor gold in Torun 2021, changed the whole dynamic of a fascinating contest by skipping to 4.78m and producing a stunning first time clearance.
After a single failure each, Stefanidi and Caudery shifted their focus to 4.83m. But after two failures each, Moser was the champion. Stefanidi took silver on countback from Caudery who had earlier failure at 4.68m and 4.73m.
“We took that risk in the competition tonight and it paid off,” Moser said. “It was something I had to do when I was thinking about winning the gold medal.
“I had quite a few injuries in the past few years between Torun and now so there were lots of ups and downs in those years. So I am very proud to win my first senior outdoor medal.”
Mike Rowbottom for European Athletics