19th July 2013 11:57
The Italian star had the home fans on their feet as he blasted through his 110m hurdles heat to set a championships record of 13.32, taking his own national junior record in the process.
The gold medal favourite talked two days ago about dealing with the host nation's high expectations, but there was little sign of nerves this morning as he sailed over the barriers to go equal seventh on the European junior all-time list and lead the round one qualifiers by 0.13s.
Perini wasn't the only one setting PBs, however, as 17 of the 27 athletes lowered their lifetime bests and six set national junior records in round one. One of those was Jules de Bont of the Netherlands who followed Perini home in 13.45, taking his best down by a third of a second.
Britain's David Omoregie was equally quick, reducing his PB by 0.23s to 13.45, a fraction ahead of Brahan Peí±a whose 13.46 was a Swiss NJR. Frenchman Remy Robillart also PB'd with 13.51 ahead of Javier Colomo whose 13.67 equalled the Spanish junior record.
Perini's fellow Italian medal hopes Roberta Bruni and Sonia Malavisi were barely less impressive as they made light work of qualifiying for the women's pole vault final.
Bruni won World Junior bronze in 2012 and leapt 4.60 indoors this year, so the qualifying height of 4.05 required minimal efffort – just the one jump, in fact. Malavisi matched her teammate, the Italian junior record holder also needed just one attempt to make the final.
Lucy Bryan remains most likely to challenge the Italian pair – the Briton had four straight clearances from 3.80, but the medal hopes of Germany's Desiree Singh ended when she failed to get a mark.
Zbí¤ren's red army
While the Italian trio attracted most attention, there was big support for Noemi Zbí¤ren too. The Swiss hurdling star had her own dedicated scarlet fan club in the stands, and the red-clad ones had reason to clang the cow bells when their heroine skipped through the first round of the 100m hurdles in 13.29.
That's some way off the 2012 World Junior silver medallist's hugely impressive best of 13.04, but still too good for the rest of the field. Sarah Lavin was next best in round one, the Irish athlete clocking 13.38 to win her heat. Franziska Hofman of Germany and Finland's Reetta Hurske were also comfortable heat winners, but Britain's medal hope Yasmin Miller crashed out when she fell hard at the last barrier.
Thiam takes command
Nafassitou Thiam of Belgium takes a healthy 193-point lead into the final two events of the heptathlon after leaping 6.37 in the long jump, way beyond her previous personal best of 6.04.
Thaim now has 4739 points after five events, as she extended her lead over Sofia Linde. The Swede jumped 6.09 to take her total to 4546, while Thiam's teammate Marjolein Lindemans leapt into third with a PB of 6.39 from her final attempt.
That pushed Nadine Visser down to third despite the Dutchwoman's lifetime best of 5.83.
With the javelin and 800m to come this afternoon, the standings now read: Thiam 4739, Linde 4546, Lindemans 4511, Visser 4462.
Zwicker is quicker
Patrick Zwicker confirmed his status as favourite for the men's 800m with a beautifully controlled front-running heat victory. On paper, the German is a second and a half quicker than the rest; on the track he was simply too good, giving himself time to slow down at the end before jogging across the line in 1:50.29, the quickest of the round.
Daniel Andújar lies second in the rankings and the Spaniard also advanced thanks to a photo finish victory over Frenchman Gaëtan Manceaux, both clocking 1:51.42. Briton Richard Charles outsprinted Frenchman Leo Morgana to win his heat in 1:51.10, while Charles' teammate Jordan Brandsberg dipped ahead of the Austrian Nikolaus Franzmair, both recording 1:51.06.
A pair of Britons headed the 400m hurdles qualifiers with Jacob Paul most impressive in the men's event and Hayley McLean a composed winner in the women's. Paul reduced his PB by three quarters of a second to clock 50.74, while the top-ranked McLean ran a conservative 58.48 to get through her heat.
Paul outran Poland's medal hope Patryk Adamczyk, who stumbled at the last barrier, but he will need to go quicker still to beat the Russian pair Aleksandr Skorobogatko and Timofey Chalyy, who have broken 50 seconds this year. Both won their heats – Skorobogatko in 51.94, Chalyy in 51.19.
McLean's closest rival, Vilde Svortevik of Norway, clocked 58.95 to win her heat, while the long-striding French hurdler, Joan Medjid, could be a threat after she eased through round one 58.83.
Ilieva misses out
Irina Ilieva was the one big name to miss out from the women's high jump qualifiers. The Russian is ranked third in the field with an season's best of 1.88, but could get no higher than 1.70 this morning – a second high jump disappointment for Russia following Usman Usmanov's failure in the men's qualifiers yesterday.
Ukraine's event leaders Iryna Herashchenko and Kateryna Tabashnyk had little trouble clearing 1.80, all that was needed to go through.
Hanna Zinchuk was the best of the women's hammer throwers, the Belarussian reaching 63.14 with her first effort. She remains favourite for gold, while Hungary's Réka Gyurátz was also impressive, hitting 61.50 with her first throw.
Alyona Shamotina of Ukraine and Malwina Kopron of Poland are also safely through, as is the highly-ranked Greek, Iliána Korosídou, who needed three throws to secure her place.