Athletics European Championships, Derkach gold in triple jump with 14.60: Hunt completes the double

The morning had reported on the swimming championships in Paris; the fresh news of the afternoon comes from Birmingham, where the 27th edition of the European Athletics Championships is taking place from 10 to 16 August at Alexander Stadium. On 13 August, Dariya Derkach won gold in the women’s triple jump with 14.60 metres, a mark that stands as a personal best and the best European performance of the season (Eurosport).

The podium was completed by Belgium’s Saliyya Guisse at 14.46 and Bulgaria’s Aleksandra Nacheva at 14.40: twenty centimetres separate the winner from the third-placed athlete, with the runner-up fourteen centimetres from gold. For Italy, this is the sixth medal of these European Championships and the first gold in the women’s triple jump at an outdoor continental event.

British sprinting

The most decisive result of the evening came in the women’s 200 metres: Britain’s Amy Hunt won in 22.19, completing the double after gold in the 100m. Behind her, Ireland’s Rhasidat Adeleke finished in 22.28 with a new Irish national record, and Dina Asher-Smith in 22.29 (Olympics.com).

Nine hundredths between first and second, just one between silver and bronze: the race confirms that the European level in the event has become tightly compressed, and that the two British sprinters split the sprint programme with the Irish athlete in between.

Event	Winner	Mark/time
Women’s triple jump	Dariya Derkach (Italy)	14.60 m
Women’s 200 metres	Amy Hunt (Great Britain)	22.19
Men’s discus	Kristjan Ceh (Slovenia)	72.51 m
Decathlon	Leo Neugebauer (Germany)	8611 points
Women’s pole vault	Angelica Moser (Switzerland)	4.80 m

In the discus, Slovenia’s Kristjan Ceh confirmed himself as European champion with 72.51 metres, a new championship record. In the decathlon, the title went to Germany’s Leo Neugebauer with 8611 points, while Switzerland’s Angelica Moser won the women’s pole vault with 4.80 metres.

The world record in swimming

On the same day, at the European Swimming Championships underway in Paris, Sara Curtis won gold in the 50 metres backstroke, improving the world record she had set herself the previous evening (Il Post, Sky TG24). This is an update on what was reported this morning, when the record had been established but not yet accompanied by the continental title: the record has been broken twice in two days by the same athlete, in the same pool.

The feat made the front pages of Italian newspapers on 14 August (Agenzia Dire). In technical terms, what was noted in this morning’s edition still holds: a fifty-metre distance is decided in hundredths of a second, and a record set at a continental event does not by itself establish a world hierarchy.

The European Athletics Championships in Birmingham close on 16 August: three days of competition remain at Alexander Stadium (Eurosport).