Photo: European Athletics via Getty Images
Several reigning Wanda Diamond League champions added yet another title to their trophy cabinets this week with glory at the European Athletics Championships in Rome.
Just two months before it hosts the 13th leg of the 2024 Wanda Diamond League, Rome's Stadio Olimpico played host to a thrilling few days of athletics action which saw championship records fall like flies.
Three-time Diamond League champion Femke Bol continued her good form in the 400m hurdles, building on her recent win at BAUHAUS-Galan in Stockholm to claim her second successive European title.
The Flying Dutchwoman clocked a championship record of 52.49 in the final, stealing the world lead from her US rival Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.
Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen delivered another title double in the 1500m and 5000m, just as he had done last September at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Eugene.
Ingebrigtsen overcame a spirited challenge from Britain's George Mills in the 5000m before cruising to a championship record of 3:31.95 in the 1500m, and completing a "triple double" of two gold medals at each of the last three European Championships
Fellow Scandinavian star Mondo Duplantis was also on his usual blistering form, smashing the championship record of 6.10m in the pole vault before narrowly missing out on a world record of 6.25m.
The super Swede, who started his season with a world record at the Diamond League opener in Xiamen back in April, will take his next shot at 6.25m at the Wanda Diamond League meeting Paris on July 7th.
Reigning women's 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson overcame illness to defend her title in Rome, while in the high jump, Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh cleared 2.01m to overcome Serbian rival Angelina Topic and retain her status as European Champion.
Czech star Jakub Vadlejch pulled out a stunning winning throw of 88.65m in the final round of the javelin to add a first international gold medal to his three Diamond Trophies.
Diamond League champions from previous seasons were also in title-winning form in Rome, as several other big names swept to gold medals and championship records.
2021 and 2022 Diamond Trophy winner Gianmarco Tamberi defended his European title in style in the high jump, battling back from behind to clear a championship record of 2.37m.
Tamberi was one of several Italian stars to claim titles the host nation topped the medals table, with Marcell Jacobs winning the 100m and Leonardo Fabbri triumphing in the shot put.
Two-time Diamond League champion Karsten Warholm bounced back from his early season disappointments to set a new championship record of 46.98 in the men's 400m hurdles.
Having narrowly missed out on the Diamond League title after a dip in form at the end of last season, Warholm suffered defeat on home soil to Brazilian rival Alison Dos Santos in May.
Croatian legend and six-time Diamond League champion Sandra Elkasevic claimed a seventh straight European title in the women's discus, throwing a season's best of 67.04m in the first round.
Two former Diamond League champions leapt to glory in the long jump, meanwhile, as Germany's Malaika Mihambo cleared 7.22m in the women's event and Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou set a new PB of 8.65m in the men's.
Another standout performance came from 2022 Paris Diamond League winner Jordan Diaz Fortun, who recorded the third-biggest jump of all time with 18.18m in the men's triple jump.
