Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou progressed through to the men’s long jump final at the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham where he is targeting a record-equalling fourth successive title.
In summary
- Miltiadis Tentoglou stays on track to win a fourth successive European long jump title
- Francesco Inzoli leads the two qualifying pools with a big wind-aided mark of 8.34m
- No place in the final for Mattia Furlani who retired after the first round
After missing the board by 35 centimetres on his first attempt and falling short of the automatic qualifying line with 7.73m, Tentoglou made the necessary adjustments with his second jump, booking a safe berth through to tomorrow evening’s final with 8.26m.
"This was one of my best qualification marks after Paris 2024 so I'm happy. I wanted to do it with my first attempt but the wind changed on me
"I was just chilling, it was no big deal. It was a chill jump, and I like jumping 8.26m for a morning qualification. Tomorrow I want to jump 8.50m, 8.60m and win. I'm good, so I should be able to. I have defended so many titles, so I don't feel the pressure, I feel excited," said Tentoglou.
If Tentoglou wins gold tomorrow, he would match Heike Drechsler who won four successive titles in the women's long jump between 1986 and 1998. Incidentally, Drechsler was working as an official for the men's long jump final at the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin where Tentoglou won his first title.
Two 8.30m-plus jumps in qualifying
With five of the top six jumpers on the 2026 world list hailing from Europe, the men’s long jump has been earmarked as one of the highest quality events of the championships and two new protagonists have emerged as prospective medal contenders with big - albeit wind-assisted - marks.
The two rounds of qualifying were led by Italy’s Francesco Inzoli who bounded out to 8.34m (+3.1 m/s) with 20-year-old Serbian Luka Boškovic - who is coached by 1990 European high jump champion Dragutin - just one centimetre behind with a marginally wind-assisted 8.33m (+2.4 m/s).
In total, eight jumpers surpassed the eight metre-barrier across the two pools. Reigning European indoor champion Bozhidar Sarâboyukov progressed with a wind-aided 8.20m (+2.6 m/s) and world indoor heptathlon champion and record-holder Simon Ehammer found his first round mark of 8.10m sufficient to progress.
It was a good morning for the Spaniards whose triumvirate - Eusebio Cáceres (8.24m), Jaime Guerra (8.12m) and Lester Lescay (8.03m) - all progressed through to the final. The host nation will also have representation with Great Britain's Archie Yeo moving into the top-12 with a third round jump of 7.92m.
World indoor champion Gerson Baldé from Portugal also qualified for the final with 7.99m.
However, there was no passage through to the final for reigning world champion Mattia Furlani from Italy, the silver medallist behind Tentoglou in Rome two years ago.
Competing for only the second time since May when he was stretchered out of the stadium in the Xiamen Diamond League, Furlani limped out of the sandpit clutching his right hamstring after landing at a modest 7.73m.
After receiving medical assistance at the side of the track, Furlani left the track in a wheelchair.
Germany’s Simon Batz, who recently improved his lifetime best to 8.29m at the German Championships, was a non-starter.