Pérez and Fiorini set world race walk records in Birmingham

María Pérez and Sofia Fiorini set world records in the women’s half marathon and marathon race walks respectively to provide a spectacular start to a record-laden penultimate day of action at the European Championships in Birmingham on Saturday (15).

Pérez claimed European gold in the half marathon race walk, clocking 1:30:06* to set a world record for the newly established distance.

Pérez was at the front from the outset, covering the opening kilometre in 4:36 and initially racing alongside Italy’s Antonella Palmisano. The pair had broken clear by 8km, but Pérez made her move at about 10km and soon started to build a significant advantage. She led Palmisano by 23 seconds at 14km and by 18km her margin over her nearest pursuer had grown to more than a minute.

She passed through 20km in 1:25:30, equalling her own Spanish record for that distance, then went on to reach the finish in 1:30:06, with Italy’s Alexandrina Mihai taking silver in 1:31:04 and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Olyanovska earning bronze in 1:31:07.

Pérez, who also holds the world record for the 35km race walk, has now added a second European title to the 20km crown she won in Berlin in 2018.

“I wasn’t expecting to break the world record today; I didn’t even know what the world record was,” said Pérez. “It was a difficult race with a lot of medal contenders. The pace was very fast so I just tried to keep up with everyone else, but at some point I just knew I was capable of going for the gold.”

There was another world record in the women’s marathon race walk as 21-year-old Fiorini produced a huge breakthrough to win in 3:15:11*. The Italian had been locked together with Poland’s Katarzyna Zdziebło for much of the race, but made her decisive move with just over 9km remaining and steadily extended her advantage from that point.

Fiorini eventually won by more than four-and-a-half minutes, with Zdziebło taking silver in a Polish record of 3:19:50 and Spain’s Raquel González earning bronze in 3:20:49. Fiorini’s performance represented a remarkable improvement of 10 minutes and 31 seconds on the 3:25:42 she recorded when taking silver at the World Race Walking Team Championships in Brasília in April.

The half marathon and marathon race walks became official distances from 1 January 2026, with World Athletics setting 1:30:30 as the performance standard required for the inaugural women’s half marathon world record and 3:17:00 for the marathon. Pérez surpassed the former by 24 seconds and Fiorini the latter by 1:49 to become the first official world record-holders for the two distances.

Spain and Italy also shared the honours in the men’s race walks. Paul McGrath completed a Spanish half marathon double by winning the men’s title in a PB of 1:23:23, finishing 13 seconds ahead of Italy’s Francesco Fortunato, with another Italian, Andrea Cosi, third in 1:23:49. Italy’s Massimo Stano then won the marathon race walk in a European record and world-leading 2:56:49. Stano moved to the front with just over 4km remaining and held off Spain’s Miguel Ángel López, who finished just eight seconds behind in a PB of 2:56:57. France’s Aurélien Quinion took bronze in 2:59:29.

Díaz soars to fourth on world all-time list

Andy Díaz Hernández produced one of the performances of the championships to win a high-quality men’s triple jump final with a world-leading Italian record of 18.15m.

Díaz offered an indication of what was to come with his opening effort, landing significantly beyond 18 metres only to see the red flag raised after his take-off foot went three centimetres over the plasticine. There was no such problem in round two as he bounded out to 18.15m, moving to fourth on the world all-time list behind only Jonathan Edwards, Christian Taylor and Jordan Díaz. He backed it up with 17.78m in the third round.

World champion Pedro Pichardo took silver with a season’s best of 17.76m, recorded in the opening round, while world silver medallist Andrea Dallavalle made it two Italians on the podium by taking bronze with 17.37m.

Championship records for Almgren and Weber

Andreas Almgren and Julian Weber rewrote championship records in contrasting fashion in the men’s 10,000m and javelin.

Sweden’s Almgren dominated the 10,000m, breaking away from the field and eventually winning in 27:23.44 to take down one of the longest-standing records in European Championships history. He finished more than 19 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Dominic Lobalu, who clocked 27:42.67, with world champion Jimmy Gressier of France taking bronze in 28:07.90.

Weber, by contrast, left his record-breaking heroics until the very last throw of the men’s javelin. The German had led since opening with 83.71m, but compatriot Nick Thumm dramatically moved ahead in the fifth round with a PB of 83.76m.

Faced with one final chance to respond, Weber did so emphatically. His spear landed at 90.40m, improving Steve Backley’s 28-year-old championship record of 89.72m and giving Weber the European lead as well as a second successive continental title. Thumm held on for silver, while Latvia’s Patriks Gailums took bronze with 82.97m.

Jæger, Mahuchikh and O’Conner deliver

Henriette Jæger underlined her status as Europe’s leading one-lap runner with a commanding victory in the women’s 400m.

The Norwegian, who had already helped her country to mixed 4x400m gold earlier in the championships, powered clear to win in a national record and European-leading 49.04 – exactly a second ahead of Poland’s Natalia Bukowiecka in 50.04. Lieke Klaver of the Netherlands took bronze in 50.15.

Olympic champion and world record-holder Yaroslava Mahuchikh was similarly assured in the women’s high jump. The Ukrainian cleared 1.97m to claim her third successive European title. Poland’s Maria Żodzik and Montenegro’s Marija Vuković both cleared 1.95m to take silver and bronze respectively.

Kate O’Connor completed a superb two days in the women’s heptathlon by becoming Ireland’s first European champion in the event. O’Connor took a 51-point advantage over Olympic bronze medallist Emma Oosterwegel into the concluding 800m and kept the Dutchwoman close enough to secure gold with an Irish record of 6751. Oosterwegel took silver and her Dutch teammate Sofie Dokter completed the podium.

Britain doubles up in the sprint relays

Britain ended the evening with a sweep of the 4x100m titles. Dina Asher-Smith, Amy Hunt, Success Eduan and Imani-Lara Lansiquot combined to clock a European-leading 42.05 in the women’s final, winning by 1.07 seconds from Switzerland, with Poland taking bronze. The margin was one of the largest ever seen in the women’s 4x100m at the European Championships.

For Hunt, it completed a remarkable sprint treble after her victories in the 100m and 200m earlier in the week. Asher-Smith also reached a significant milestone: the gold was her 10th European Championships medal, drawing her level with Polish great Irena Szewińska as the joint-most decorated athlete – man or woman – in the history of the championships.

In the men’s final, Jeremiah Azu, Louie Hinchliffe and Zharnel Hughes put their team in contention before 100m champion Romell Glave finished the job on the anchor leg. Glave crossed the line in 38.45, ahead of Germany in 38.64 and Belgium in 38.70.

Elsewhere, Stefan Nillessen timed his charge perfectly in the men’s 1500m as the Dutchman swept through on the home straight to claim his first senior major title in 3:35.70.

*Subject to the usual ratification procedure