European Athletics Championsips in Rome - Day 2 (08-06-2024)

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Where should we start on this epic evening, where we won a haul of medals that in the first twenty years of this century would have been considered extraordinary if not unrealistic for an entire European Championships, and what's more, without any of the results being a big surprise? There was Fabbri's gold, whose superiority was, however, so clear that it was not even exciting, like Tamberi in 2016: as I said then, I felt like a poker player holding a royal flush when everyone else had nothing. Even Jacobs' gold, after the forfeits of Prescod and Azu, had become an act of duty, and even the one-two became predictable, Should we start, if anything, with Simonelli, whose gold win and improvement could have been expected, but he went beyond expectations, with a result that makes him a candidate for an Olympic medal? However, I believe that the real ‘cover picture’ of the day is not a picture of the races, but of the medal table: Italy has five gold medals, no other country has more than one. After only two days, we are only two medals away from the record.

 

 

But let's start from the beginning. In the morning I arrive quickly and find parking immediately. On the way to the stadium, I meet Thiam, who enters through the athletes' entrance, before the Stadio dei Marmi. The entrance to the pre-filtering area is also quick, with no queue. Everything OK, then, after yesterday's nightmare? Not quite: there is only one gate open in the entire Tevere stand, and logically there is a queue. Fortunately, they have added a manually controlled gate, so it runs out fairly quickly. After yesterday's experience, I don't even consider going to my seat and settle in the middle of the Tevere stand. The grandstand fills up quite a bit, certainly more than yesterday: this time, for a morning session, the audience is not so few, even if to speak of a ‘full Olimpico’, as the speaker will do, is a bit of a bold statement. There are also a few people in the south terrace, where pole valut is taking place, very few in the other stand. Clearly, it also depends on the disproportionate price difference between the two gtrandstands (which there is also in football, where it makes even less sense). One sees many Finnish flags (both their defending champions, stepple specialist Raitanen and pole vaulter Murto, are competing today) and a few Spanish ones, dedicated especially to steeple specialist Arce. Two rows behind me is Italy's team director La Torre. It seems strange to me that he is here and not in a reserved stand, but I look at the badge: it is really him.

 I enter as the first heat of the men's 3000st is finishing, where O. Zoghlami (my follower) and Bouih will pass the round, while A. Zoghlami will not make it in the other. The first pool of the men's hammer qualification is underway: Nowicki will be the only direct qualifier and then to the question ‘What do you like about Rome?’ he will answer ‘the weather’. Evidently he didn't feel like thanking the attendance's support.... Immediately afterwards there are the women's pole vault qualifiers, with the three Italians having no problems until 4.50, then at 4.50 Molinarolo clears them on  first, Bruni in the second, Malavisi does not make it. At 4.50 there are 12 left, so they do not continue (the qualification was at 4.55). Five remain with zero, including Bradshaw.

On the track there were the women's 100 and women's 400 heats. To follow the 400 I move a little higher because of the raised platforms obstructing the view. Unbelievable performance by Sito in the 400: he gets the final straight with a clear lead and controls, looking around, yet he sets 45.12. And he had run a great relay split last night! I was in shock for most of the morning.

The morning ended with heptathlon's long jump, where Kaelin did an incredible 6.84, which I couldn't see, because I was following the pole vault, but anyway from my position I couldn't grasp much of the measures. Gerevini does 6.33 (with a very long foul) and is seventh.

This time I am going home during the break for family and election commitments. On my return, I arrive at the Foro Italico in record time and immediately find a parking space. I have a good margin for the start of the race walk, so I think I will be able to see it from the beginning without any problems, even having time to look for the best spot. But the unexpected is always lurking: this time they have decided to make separate entrances for those who have backpacks and those who don't, so there is a queue in the former. However, since the race walk starts near the entrance, I manage to see the start, struggling a little to make my way through the crowd, which is there this time.

 

I stand around the nedal plaza, on the entrance side. Besides me there is Orsoni's mother, a purple-haired lady. Trost arrives: I introduce myself (as "the ordinary spectator", of course), since we have exchanged a few messages, and we take a photo together. The Italians start in the lead on the first lap, but then Karlstrom goes ahead and holds the lead almost all the time, with the exception of a period when he is overtaken by the Spaniard McGrath. When the athletes are out of sight, there is no way of knowing what is going on, it feels like going back decades: there are two screens, but one is show and theing ads and the other, the one behind the stage, only frames the athletes outside the medal plaza towards the middle of the race.

After the 15* km, with an established ranking: Karlstrom-McGrath-Fortunato, which will remain until the end, I head for the stadium. There is a bit of a queue at the gates, but it flows quickly. This time I go straight to my seat: the Tevere grandstand is almost completely full and so are some blocks of the Monte Mario one, less  the rest of the stadium, although the South terrace is a little fuller than the North. Next to me is a group of Barontini fans, who will be joined after the match by their idol. After the Italians the largest group are definitely the Swiss, who have Eheammer and the hurdlers tonight. After Ingebritsen's victory, the Norwegian flags will come out, but no Greeks are to be seen, despite Tentoglu.

 

We start with the javelin in the heptathlon, with Gerevini setting yet another personal best and finishing sixth. This was followed by the semi-finals of the 800, where Barontini disappointed, while Tecuceanu won and in the other Pernici again attempted a comeback in the final straight and narrowly missed it. The first final is the men's long jump: the presentation (by two long jumpers, Howe and Strati) takes place right in front of me. Fortunately, they have returned to presenting the athletes in jump order, and no longer in reverse ranking order. From my position one can see the run-up well, but not so much the landing and one cannot get an idea of the measures. As my neighbour will point out, however, the screen transmits the jumps with a slight lag, so one has time to see them live and then check the measure. Tentoglu, shoots 8.41 right away, then Furlani's first jump can be seen to be well over 8 metres, but I didn't think so much; 8.38! How strange to see this measure in Rome, but this time we are sure it is true (it was the measure of Evangelisti's rigged jump in 1987). Tentoglu will improve to 8.65, Furlani will not and will remain second

After the first two rounds of jumping and the semifinals of the 100hs, I'm going to get some food, counting on missing one or at most two semifinals of the 100hs, as Simonelli is in the third. There's not much of a queue, although more than yesterday, so I only miss the first one. Simonelli makes a great impression: 13.20 slowing down in the final. The men's shot putstarts, difficult to follow as it is on the other side, but with binoculars I manage to get an idea of the measures. At the first throw Fabbri maintains a bit of suspense by making 20.42, with which he is fourth, at the second he asks for silence and shoots 22.12. He will improve again with 22.45, all the others more than one metre behind

In the semi-finals of the 100, Jacobs and Ali won theirs, and Melluzzo would also win with a personal best of 10.12, only he did not realise that the race was stopped and only two had continued to the end. In the new start (after the other two) he was injured. Then there were the heptathlon's 800 , with Gerevini coming second and finishing sixth with an Italian record by over 200 points, and the 100hs final, where France's Samba-Mayela set a championship record: it was the only race of the evening where winner was not the clear favourite on the eve of the race.

And so we come to the other two Italian triumphs. In the 110hs Llopis starts off strong, but Simonelli keepsup with him and at the ninth hurdle overtakes him: he wins in 13.05, a result beyond expectations that puts him among the candidates for the Olympic podium. And finally the 100: Ali starts strong, Jacobs not so much, but then relaxed and two-thirds of the way through the race the one-two is now a definite, only the order remains to be established, In the final Jacobs passes and wins in 10.02 versus 10.05

There were also two races without Italians, women's discus and men's 500, both won by the favourites, Ingebritsen and Perkovic (although he goes by another name now) respectively. The latter gives rise to some regret: Osakue with ther personal best would have finished third, with her season best, fourth.