Angelica Moser retained her women’s pole vault title at the Birmingham 2026 European Athletics Championships on Thursday (13) with a season’s best of 4.80m.
The Swiss athlete delivered a flawless card up to - and including 4.80m - to win gold.
Silver went to Munich 2022 champion Wilma Heltelä with a best clearance of 4.75m, with France’s Marie-Julie Bonnin taking bronze with 4.70m.
In summary
- Moser wins second successive European title for Switzerland
- Heltelä adds European silver to go with her gold from Munich 2022
- France's Bonnin holds nerve to win gutsy bronze
Moser, also the reigning European indoor champion, opened with a first-time clearance at 4.45m. She was similarly successful over 4.60m, 4.70m and 4.75m.
Heltelä matched her blow for blow. But the decisive moment came at 4.80m. Moser cleared at the first attempt, while Heltelä logged her first failure.
She then passed her remaining attempts, and the bar was raised to 4.85m, where she would try to usurp Moser. But with two further failures, the Finn had to settle for silver.
Former world indoor champion Bonnin lived dangerously. She took two attempts to clear 4.45m and needed her full quota of three attempts to get over 4.60m.
She then cleared 4.70m at the second attempt. The French athlete had successive single failures at 4.75m, 4.80m and 4.85m in a vain attempt to stay in contention for gold, but ultimately had to settle for bronze.
Greece’s evergreen former Olympic and world champion Aikaterini Stefanidi placed sixth at her sixth European Athletics Championships.
The 36-year-old dipped into her well of competitive spirit and produced a gutsy season’s best clearance of 4.60m at the third attempt. But she was foiled at 4.70m.