Warsaw: Italy won the gold medal at the 2023 European Athletics Team Championships in Chorzow, Poland on Sunday, followed by Poland and Germany.
Sunday was the last day of the championships, which form part of the 2023 European Games currently being held in Poland.
Italy, who were leading the general classification after Saturday’s competition, handled the pressure to claim the title with 426.5 points. Second-placed Poland earned 402.5 points, while Germany took bronze medals with 387.5 points.
Italy’s Zane Weir led the way in the men’s shot put, with a best throw of 21.59 meters. Britain’s Scott Lincoln took second place, while Poland’s Michal Haratyk completed the top three.
Italy captain Gianmarco Tamberi also met expectations to win the men’s high jump. He jumped 2.29, the same as Thomas Carmoy of Belgium, who needed two efforts to clear the bar and was relegated to second place as a result.
Thierry Ndikumwenayo made a dream debut on his first appearance for Spain, taking victory in the men’s 5,000m with a time of 13:25.48. Andreas Almgren of Sweden finished second, 22 seconds adrift.
In one of the final competitions of the day, fans at the Silesia Stadium were treated to a thrilling finish in the women’s 1,500m as Spain’s Esther Guerrero beat Martyna Galant of Poland by just 0.01 seconds, with 4:11.77 on the scoreboard. Germany’s Hanna Klein was third.
The home crowd celebrated winning the 4×400 mixed relay, with Poland crossing the tape first with 3:12.87, ahead of France (3:13.36) and Italy (3:13.56).