European Athletics Championships 2024: Decathlon rollercoaster shaping up for grand finale

On the penultimate morning of the European Athletics Championships in Rome, on Tuesday 11 June, the decathlon provided the thrills and spills, with just the evening session's conclusion to come.

By morning's end, after the 110m hurdles, discus and pole vault disciplines, five decathletes were still in with a chance of winning the European title with two events to go – javelin and 1500m – in the evening session, with just 196 points separating them.

Johannes Erm of Estonia was top of the standings on 7207, with France's Makenson Gletty second (7146), and the Norway pairing of Markus Rooth and Sander Skotheim, third and fourth, on 7096 and 7083, respectively, with world-record holder and two-time Olympic silver medallist Kevin Mayer fifth (7011).

Germany's Manuel Eitel (6837) and Niklas Kaul (6747) also have strong events to come.

After the previous day's five disciplines of 100 metres, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400 metres, Skotheim, the World indoor heptathlon silver medallist in Glasgow in March, topped the standings on 4566 heading into day two.

Erm, an 11th-place finisher in Tokyo 2020 and bronze medallist to Skotheim in Scotland earlier this year, was in second place (4541), with Gletty, fifth in the World indoors (4539), in third.

Mayer languished in eighth, on 4230, hampered by injury but desperate to secure the Olympic qualifying points of 8,460 for his home Games, at Paris 2024, starting 26 July.

It was Gletty who had the most drama-filled morning after re-running the first event for the decathletes, the 110m hurdles, after an issue with hearing the starter's pistol left him in the blocks, before setting off to finish 10m behind everyone else.

Making the most of the second chance, the reserve French police officer secured an individual lifetime best of 13.88, roaring across the line to stay on track for a potential medal.

Mayer fought back with the leading discus mark of 48.53 for 840 points with the next best athlete potentially in line for a podium, Rooth on 46.54 and 799 points.

The last event of the morning for the 10-discipline athletes saw the pole vault shake up the leaderboard. Mayer needed three attempts at his first height of 5m but eeked out a best mark of 5.30 to top the standings in the event and climb the rankings, and sits just 1,499 marks off his longed-for qualification points to make an attempt at finally winning Olympic gold, in Paris, in front of a home crowd at that.

• European Athletics Championships 2024: All Results & Medal Table

European Athletics Championships Tuesday 11 June morning session highlights

Malaika Mihambo, reigning Olympic champion in women's long jump, announced herself to the Rome crowd with a one-time leap of 7.03m, a European lead and only the second person in world over 7m this year, to go straight through to Wednesday's final in the last session of the championship.

Britain's Keely Hodgkinson, the Tokyo 2020 silver medallist and defending European champion in women's 800m, eased into Wednesday night's final with 1:58.07, in the fastest ever women's 800m semifinal in European Championships history. Personal bests were secured by three qualifiers including France's Anaïs Bourgoin who had a massive PB breaking the two-minute mark for the first time, in 1:58.65.

As ever, the relay qualification provided thrills and spills.

Great Britain qualified fastest for the women’s 4x100m final in a European-leading time of 42.25. Their male counterparts were unable to keep the baton secure so won't contend the final in which they've won the four previous consecutive golds. Netherlands men qualify top in 38.34, followed by Germany (38.43) with Belgium making the grade in a national record of 38.55.

Ireland continued their storming championships with the women's 4x400m squad qualifying fastest for the 4x400m final with 3.24.81. That's a fourth race in five days for Sharlene Mawdsley, part of the mixed 4x400m team that won the inaugural European gold in the discipline. Only 1.18 seconds separates the eight qualified teams for the women’s 4x400m final.

France lead the way in the men's 4x400m with a season's best time of 3:00.77. Portugal and Hungary both qualify for the eight-nation final with national records, with 3:01.09 and 3:02.09, respectively.

Italy have qualified in all but the women's 4x100m relay finals, giving the home crowd much to cheer in the grand finale on Wednesday night, which features all relay events.

2024 EUROPEAN ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS - DAY FIVE EVENING FINALS

(Times local CEST)

19:05 Men's decathlon – javelin

20:35 Men's high jump final

20:55 Men's triple jump final

21:05 Men's 400m hurdles final

21:18 Women's 400m hurdles final

21:30 Women's 10,000m final

21:36 Women's javelin throw final

22:30 Men's decathlon – 1500m final event

22:53 Women's 200m final