The first two days of the 26th European Championships had an amazing outcome for our group. On Friday evening, Slovenian Kristjan Čeh used his broad experience while standing against the world record holder in the men´s discus throw competition. While no wind was present during the late-scheduled event, the competitors found it slightly difficult to adapt. Kristjan managed to take all of this to his advantage. In the second series, he threw a 68.08m, followed by another 67.93m and 68.05 marks. These attempts were also the three furthest of the whole competition. After second place in Munich, Kristjan claimed his first continental title.
In the men´s long jump, a legend, Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece came to defend his title. This time, a local hope Furlani was a man to beat. Little did we knew what the clash of these two personalities would bring. With Furlani right behind his back, Miltos set the leading mark to 8.42m in the first series. From then, his attempts were only longer. After two jumps of 8.45 and 8.49 he leaped to a new Championships record of 8.65 only to repeat the mark in the last series. The new personal best brought him the third consecutive European title and carried on his series of championships golds.
Filip Mihaljević of Croatia came to Rome as a defending European champion. In his opening attempt he took the leading position with a throw of 21.10m. After Italian Fabbri overtook him, Filip managed to improve his mark to 21.20. With this throw, he secured the silver medal and set a new streak for the continental championships.Many congratulations.
Photo: Pawel Skraba
