High-flyer Mondo Duplantis, the flying Dutchwoman Femke Bol or the king of the skies and local hero Gianmarco Tamberi: These are the top European athletes at the European Athletics Championships in Rome and their stories.
Armand “Mondo” Duplantis – Gold with world record, or simply “just” gold?
First competition of the Olympic year 2024, four jumps – world record! The water is wet, the sky is blue and the Swedish pole vault god Armand “Mondo” Duplantis flies reliably and easily from record to record. 5.62, 5.82, 6.00 and 6.24 m was the order at the Diamond League meeting in Xiamen, China at the end of April. The 6.24 m is the eighth world record for the Olympic champion and world champion since he first became the best of the best in 2020 with 6.17 m.
For the sensational diver, Rome is just a stopover on the way to the Paris Olympus. In France he wants to become one of the biggest stars of the games, and to achieve this Duplantis recently changed his diet and lost two kilos. “I realized that I had previously eaten far too much, too large portions and too much sugar,” said the Swede. Now the menu mainly consists of “chicken, salmon and vegetables”: “And two kilos make a big difference. I’m surprised myself at how much of a difference it made.”
World record! Repeat offender Armand Duplantis did it again in 2024.
The competition can therefore be even more afraid of a world record hunter who is now also paying attention to his diet. What does this mean for Rome? As with every major championship, the only question on the final day of the European Championships in the “Eternal City” is: will Duplantis “only” fly to his third European Championship gold in a row, or will he do it befitting his status with a ninth best time?
Gianmarco Tamberi – chasing the title with colourful socks and half a beard
Olympic champion, world champion, European champion, Diamond League winner: Gianmarco Tamberi has celebrated every triumph in the high jump that can be celebrated. The shared Olympic gold and the celebration at the 2021 Games in Tokyo with his competitor and friend Mutaz Essa from Qatar were legendary. The local hero wants to win his third European Championship gold after Amsterdam 2016 and Munich 2022 on June 11th in the Olympic Stadium in Rome – as always with colorful socks and only half a shaved beard. Either way, amateur drummer Tamberi is already an Italian icon and it is no coincidence that he will have the honor of carrying the Italian flag at the opening ceremony of the Games in Paris together with fencer Arianna Errigo.
Local hero Gianmarco Tamberi wants to win his third European Championship gold in Rome.
Femke Bol – world class with or without hurdles
For some time now, there has been no way past Femke Bol over the stadium lap – with or without hurdles. The Dutchwoman underlined that this will also be the case in 2024 at the Indoor World Championships in Glasgow at the beginning of March: 49.17 seconds over 400 meters without obstacles – a world record! The 24-year-old had only improved the best mark over two laps in mid-February with 49.24 seconds. With the exception of the Olympic Games, Bol has now won gold at all major international championships.
In Rome, the Dutchwoman is especially looking forward to the fans in the Olympic Stadium. “The Italians are just going crazy. They are so loud, which is so nice. That’s why I’m really looking forward to competing there,” said Bol.
With or without obstacles – Femke Bol is the world leader in the stadium circuit.
At the 2022 European Championships, she was the first woman to achieve a gold hat-trick, winning the 400-meter flat, the 400-meter hurdles and the 4×400-meter relay. However, the Dutchwoman will not compete in the 400-meter flat in Rome. In addition to the 400-meter hurdles, the 2023 Budapest World Champion is also registered for the 4×400-meter women’s and mixed relay.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen – Double gold holds better
The Norwegian has already won the European Championship gold double over 1,500 and 5,000 meters twice, and after Berlin 2018 and Munich 2022, he wants to do it again in Rome. “My hope and expectations are to defend both titles,” said the Norwegian, who sees the “Eternal City” as a “springboard” for the whole big coup. In Paris, the 23-year-old wants to win Olympic gold over 1,500 meters, just like in Tokyo.
Away from the running track, the two-time 5,000-meter world champion (2022, 2023) and his brothers Henrik and Filip have to contend with completely different things. The father and long-time coach of the Norwegian running stars is being charged with the allegation of mistreating a family member. The Norwegian police announced this at the end of April. According to the NTB news agency, Gjert Ingebrigtsen’s lawyer said his client denies the allegations. In the fall of 2023, the three brothers accused their father of being violent in their childhood in an opinion piece in the newspaper “Verdens Gang”. “We grew up with a father who was very aggressive and controlling and used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” the brothers wrote at the time.
Medal collector Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
The charges that have been made public relate to the mistreatment of a single family member. All other charges have been dropped, according to police.
Karsten Warholm – World record holder wants his third European Championship gold
Gold medals pave Karsten Warholm’s arduous path. The hurdles around the stadium apparently pose no obstacles for the Norwegian. His sensational world record at the Tokyo Games left everyone amazed – 45.94 seconds! The 28-year-old ran five of the ten fastest times over the 400-meter hurdles.
Hurdles world record holder Karsten Warholm.
A good month before the games in Paris, he is aiming for his third continental title in a row in Rome after the European Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2018 and in Munich in 2022. In the Italian capital, it will be cozy and warm in mid-June, just as the sprinters prefer. But Warholm wouldn’t be Norwegian if he couldn’t cope in the snow:
Jaroslawa Mahutschich – It’s about more than European Championship gold
Since Russia invaded her country, Yaroslava Mahutschich has no longer just been jumping for medals. The Ukrainian high jumper wants to give hope to the people in her war-torn homeland with her performances. She did this impressively at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest. The Olympic bronze medalist from Tokyo jumped 2.01 m and won her first world championship title. In 2022, she also won gold at the European Championships in Munich. “We want to show with our performances that Ukraine is invincible,” says the 22-year-old.
High jump world champion Yaroslava Mahutschich.
With her jump of 2.04 m in Cottbus at the end of January, Mahutschich leads the world best list of the year. Two awards are still missing from the Ukrainian’s letterhead – Olympic gold and the world record. She should be able to achieve the former in Paris, and Stefka Kostadinova’s 2.09 m also seems possible for the Ukrainian. The Bulgarian set the world record in 1987 – at the World Athletics Championships in Rome.
Marcell Jacobs – Questions sprint with the Olympic champion
Winning European Championship gold in front of a home crowd would be the crowning achievement for sprinter Marcell Jacobs. On Instagram, the Italian is known as “crazylongjumper”, which makes sense at second glance, as Jacobs was at home in the long jump until 2018. After switching to sprinting, his development went rapidly and culminated in his sensational Olympic victory in Tokyo in 2021. Jacobs drummed 9.80 seconds (European record) onto the track, shocking the competition and causing observers to frown at his explosion of performance.
Shortly after the coup in Tokyo, where he also won gold with Italy’s 4×100-meter relay team, it was revealed that Jacobs had split from his “nutritionist” Giacomo Spazzini shortly before the Games, who was under police investigation for illegally distributing anabolic steroids in the bodybuilding world. A year later, Spazzini was banned for 15 years for doping offenses before a panel of the National Olympic Committee lifted the ban in 2023.
100m Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs.
Jacobs himself, who became European champion in Munich in 2022, did not come directly into the focus of doping investigators. But questions are sprinting towards the Italian, who has not yet had a run under ten seconds in the results list this year.
