Italy struck gold in the men’s 4x400m in the very final event of the Birmingham 2026 European Athletics Championships on Sunday (16) evening.
Finishing ahead of Great Britain & NI secured the nation’s tenth gold of the week and pushed them above the hosts in the final medal table.
In summary
- Edoardo Scotti, Luca Sito, Mohamed Soudassi and Lorenzo Benati clocked 2:59.16 in victory
- The British line-up anchored by Charlie Dobson finished just 0.03 adrift of the winners
- The Netherlands snatched bronze by two-hundredths of a second from Belgium in 2:59.49
Scotti, one of two in the Italian line-up that claimed silver on home turf in Rome two years ago, was handed the task of keeping the Azzurri in touch on the opening leg as the hosts sent out individual three-time European champion Matthew Hudson-Smith and grasped an early lead.
But Italy’s smooth baton changing and talent in depth pushed them to the fore and nobody could pass. Sito ran a 44.4 split to move into the lead while Soudassi kept up the pace with 44.6.
It was left to Benati to keep his nerve as Great Britain's Charlie Dobson chased him down the home straight. The difference just 0.03 as the duo stormed through the line as Benati anchored Italy to their first ever gold medal in the men's 4x400m in the history of the European Athletics Championships, in 2:59.16.
Behind, a private Benelux battle was staged and it was the Netherlands, so often ending up in fourth, who finally broke onto the podium. By a mere 0.02, they beat defending champions Belgium to bronze, 2:59.49 to 2:59.51.
Hungary just missed out on a medal in fifth but European indoor champion Attila Molnár anchored their quartet to a national record of 2:59.68 in fifth, the first time a Hungarian quartet has broken three minutes in the men's 4x400m. Molnár's last leg was timed at 43.58, the fastest in the final.
What they said
Edoardo Scotti (ITA)
"It is something magic. We worked for this result and we came here for this. And luckily we got it."
Matthew Hudson-Smith (GBR)
"I would have liked a gold but Italy really battled for it. You could see they really wanted it. It's just a part of sport. We may have come second but at the end of the day the whole team has been going through stuff on and off the track. We came here impaired but we battled hard."
Eugene Omalla (NED)
"Before we went into the call room we had a small team gathering and I almost had a tear going down my eye, because Lie [Liemarvin Bonevacia] is retiring and he is one of my big brothers, my best friend. We said we just wanted to win that medal for Lie. It is special to do."