A wonderful gold, making the Olympic team crazy about him explode, under the eyes of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella who embraces him wrapped in a tricolour, the most beautiful springboard for the Olympics which he arrives at as standard bearer and with the most important title to defend. Gianmarco Tamberi confirms himself as European high jump champion, winning under the sky of Rome a competition of a non-prohibitive level (in which he himself made mistakes at both 2.26 and 2.29) but which he decides to embellish like a champion: gold now won in altitude 2.31 – already the best measurement of the season up to that point – he raised the bar to 2.34, surpassing it with momentum, and then again to 2.37, establishing the new record of the European championships, the same height as his greatest joy, the Olympic gold of 2021.
the palmares
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Gimbo celebrated wildly with joy with a show of his own, pulling a handful of springs out of his shoe. He has them naturally, because of what Mother Nature gave him and the very hard work to get to the top of the world and to try to stay there. It is the third continental gold in his career for the 32-year-old from Civitanova, who was the reigning European champion after the 2.30 two years ago in Monaco, the reigning world champion after the 2.36 last year in Budapest, and above all the reigning Olympic champion after the historic 2.37 in 2021 in Tokyo, a scepter that he is called to confirm in two months, in the final on August 10 at the Paris Games.
THE EVENING
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Gimbo enters the race at 2.22 after the others had started at 2.17. The first attempt at 2.26 fails by a trifle, with the right thigh touching the bar and causing it to fall, a measurement however surpassed with momentum on the next jump: 2.26 still the best performance of the season, while at 2.22 yes Manuel Lando and Stefano Sottile, the other Italians in the race, stop, but also the Polish Kobielski, credited with being the most fearsome competitor. Thrill at 2.29: he makes a significant mistake on the first jump, the same on the second, on the third he touches his calf slightly but with an indescribable rush of adrenaline he goes forward, and it is the measure that in the meantime is worth the podium. But above all it is the energy needed to fly in the sky: first attempt at 2.31 and a very clean, perfect jump. He stops twice at 2.33, but is already certain of gold when his last opponent, the Ukrainian Lavskyy, also leaves the stage. Finished? Not at all, the show has only just begun: a flight at 2.34 and another at 2.37. Rome is conquered, the Paris mission begins.
