European Athletics Championships day one morning session starts showdown between Thiam and Johnson-Thompson, plus world lead from Ehammer
Day one, morning one and far from easing into the European Athletics Championships gently, the first minutes pitted a World champion and Olympic gold medallist against each other in the first track event in Rome, the 100m hurdles for heptathlon.
Britain's Katarina Johnson-Thompson, the reigning world champion, and Tokyo 2020 gold medallist, Nafi Thiam of Belgium, both started Friday 7 June with a modest first event of seven but burst into life in the second, the high jump.
Thiam won the discipline with a world-class height of 1.95m, to comfortably top the leader scoreboard by 108 points with 2186 over compatriot and fourth-place finisher in Tokyo, Noor Vidts (2078).
Thiam, the two-time Olympic champion, is also well in contention to clinch the Paris 2024 qualification points she needs at this championships to secure a spot at the Games in France, by completing her first heptathlon since winning the European title in August 2022. The Brussels native had to pull out of last year’s Worlds due to injury.
A sparkling showing from the home nation's Sveva Gerevini (2050), saw the Italian having the time of her life in front of fans in the Stadio Olimpico. Securing personal best marks in both hurdles and high jump leaves the eight-time national champion in third heading into the evening session on Friday, where the multi-eventers compete in shot put and the 200m.
Johnson-Thompson is tied with Croatia's Jana Koščak in fourth on 2043, with her compatriot Jade O'Dowda, in fifth (2037). The Commonwealth Games bronze medallist from 2022 had quite the time of it in high jump, requiring four third-time clearances to rack up the points, revealing the mettle required for this event, and that GB's strong tradition in the discipline is set to continue.
* As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024. Click here to see the official qualification system for each sport.
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Mykolas Alekna 🇱🇹 tops the two pools of discus qualifying with his first throw of 6️⃣7️⃣.5️⃣0️⃣m!
Don’t miss tonight’s final at 9.00pm! 🔥#IgniteTheFire #Roma2024 pic.twitter.com/LMjowmFR9G
World leads and European championship records at Roma 2024
Reigning men's discus champion Mykolas Alekna of Lithuania needed just one throw to get the automatic qualifying mark in the discipline in which he is the world record holder, securing 67.50m, the only throw to better the automatic mark of 66.00m. That's the second longest throw in qualifying in European Championships history for a man whose history-making moment in April secured a best-ever throw of 74.35m.
Reigning World and Olympic champion Daniel Ståhl (65.64) and 2022 World's best Kristjan Čeh (63.79) are also safely through. The men's discus final is scheduled for Friday's evening session at 21:00.
Switzerland’s multi-eventer, Simon Ehammer, set a world lead of 8.41m in qualifying for the men’s long jump final on Saturday. A world bronze medallist in the long jump, and European silver medallist in decathlon is showing quite the form ahead of Paris 2024.
Greece’s current Olympic, world, European, World indoor and European indoor champion Miltiadis Tentoglou qualified with a single bound of 8.14m, while rising star and soon-to-be Italian fan favourite, Mattia Furlani, also progressed with a distance of 8.17m. Britain’s Jacob Fincham-Dukes bettered that mark by a centimetre with 8.18m.
The men's 800m, meanwhile saw the fastest ever heat in European Championships history with Paul Anselmini’s winning time of 1:44.73. Two other runners also secured a time under 1:45, with Czechia's Jakub Dudycha also claiming a world-under-20 lead in 1:44.89, and Italy's Catalin Tecuceanu rounding up the astonishing final heat in 1:44.93.
Three Brits go through to the semifinal of the women's 1500m via Jemma Reekie, in a fastest time of 4:06.68, with Katie Snowden (4:12.17) and Georgia Bell (4:12.01) joining their compatriot.
Sandra Berkovic Elkasević is on track for a seventh consecutive European title, with a mark of 65.62m in the women's discus, comfortably exceeding the automatic qualifying mark of 62.50m.
But the tears from Spain’s Cuban-born Orlando Ortega proved the most moving of the morning session.
The Rio 2016 silver medallist and World bronze medallist in 2019 in men's 110m hurdles openly wept upon hearing he had progressed with his time of 13.79. Up to last month, Ortega had spent two years (and one day) without competing because of a series of injuries.
For full results from the morning session of the European Athletics Championships in Rome on Friday 7 June, check here.
Day one evening session schedule at European Athletics Championships Roma 2024 on Friday 7 June
(Times CEST)
18:35 20km women's race walk final
18:40 Heptathlon – shot put
19:55 Women's shot put qualifying
19:55 Men's shot put qualifying
20:30 Women's high jump qualification
21:00 Men's discus throw final
21:10 Men's 100m round one
21:33 Women's shot put final
21:45 Heptathlon – 200m
22:20 4x400m mixed relay final
22:40 Women's 5,000m final
For the full schedule from 7-12 June, check here.