Italian comes out on top again in high jump while Nowicki successfully defends hammer throw crown

Gianmarco Tamberi won the second European outdoor high jump title of his career in Munich, but his immediate concern was for two other people.

Firstly, he dedicated his win to his fiancee, who he is due to marry next month. Then, after it was confirmed that Andriy Protsenko had won Ukraine’s first medal of the championships in Munich, the Italian gave his friend and rival an enormous congratulatory hug.

Earlier this year, at the World Indoor Championships which took place towards the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Tamberi had worn Protsenko’s name on his arm in solidarity. Now, the pair could celebrate together.

The Olympic champion, ever the showman, made the most of the large, noisy crowd to clear 2.30m and win his contest with German Tobias Potye, and Protsenko (both going over 2.27m).

The Ukrainian’s mind, however, was not entirely on his podium performance.

“I am glad to get this medal but my head is somewhere else,” he said. “I could not focus on the competition, I was very emotional. Just before the start, I saw a message that the mother of one of my team-mates Kateryna Tabashnyk was killed today by a missile in Kharkiv.

“I had to fight with myself in the final today to at least jump. I do not know where I found the power to fight.”

In the men’s hammer competition, Olympic champion Wojciech Nowicki successfully defended his title thanks to a world-leading throw of 82.00m. A third-round PB of 80.92m from Hungary’s Bence Halász had put him in the lead before the Pole secured gold with his fifth-round effort.