Spanish capital sizzles in heatwave conditions as the Netherlands impress in 4x100m relays, Tentóglou shines in the long jump and Italy edge closer to a successful title defence
The Netherlands caught the eye with a clean sweep of the sprint relays at the end of Saturday’s session at the European Team Championships in Madrid. But it was the all-round consistency of Italy that propelled them into 24-point lead ahead of the final day.
It means the Azzurri are hot favourites to successfully defend the crown they won in Poland in 2023.
With just Sunday evening’s session remaining, Germany are Italy’s closest challengers, with Poland third followed by Netherlands, Britain and the hosts Spain.
At the bottom of the 16-strong first division, Lithuania look doomed to relegation with Finland and Ukraine also battling to stay in the top league.
Apart from the scorching temperatures of 37C at the green CONICA track in the Edstadio de Vallehermoso, the biggest talking point was probably the impressive relay performances by the Dutch.
Their men’s and women’s teams both set championship and national records with 37.87 and 42.02 respectively, bringing to a close a great night of athletics.
The Dutch men’s team included Nsikak Ekpo, Taymir Burnet, Xavi Mo-Ajok and Elvis Afrifa as Germany placed second in 38.27 and Britain third with 38.33.
The Dutch female quartet was Nadine Visser, Lieke Klaver, Minke Bisschops and Marije van Hunenstijn as they held off Spain – the hosts running a national record of 42.11 – and third-placed Germany with 42.52, as Britain finished eighth in 43.00.
There were, of course, some brilliant individual performances too. Top of the list was long jumper Miltiádis Tentóglou of Greece, as he leapt to a championship record and world lead of 8.46m (1.1) at the beginning of the session.
Italian hope Mattia Furlani could only manage third behind Tentóglou and Thobias Montler of Sweden with 8.07m (-0.3). Still, it was valuable points for the defending champions.
More points came for Italy in the men’s high jump as Matteo Sioli was runner-up with 2.27m behind winner Jan Štefela of Czechia’s 2.33m.
Anita Włodarczyk, the world hammer record-holder and three-time Olympic champion from Poland, showed she is still a force to be reckoned with at the age of 39 as she threw 73.34m to win her event.
Behind, Britain’s Anna Purchase excelled with 71.41m for…
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