The second evening of the European Athletics Championship finals at Rome's Olympic Stadium concluded with six podium finishes for Italy. On June 8th, Leonardo Fabbri won the gold medal in the shot put. The Florentine, who finished second at the World Championships in Budapest last summer, dominated the competition, with the best throw coming on his fifth and penultimate attempt (22.45). He was followed by Croatia's Filip Mihaljevic (21.20) and Poland's Michat Haratyk (20.94). Lorenzo Simonelli, the Capitoline public's idol, won the 110-meter hurdles race and also received the gold medal. The young Roman crossed the finish line in 13.05, breaking his national record set in the semifinals (13.20) and a few days ago at the Nancy meeting (13.21). The Spaniard Enrique Llopis (13.16) and the Swiss Jason Joseph (13.43) finished second and third on the podium, respectively. Marcell Jacobs, the reigning Olympic champion, won the 100 meters in 10.02 seconds, repeating his continental title from Munich two years ago. Last but not least, the tricolor party was crowned by Chituru Ali, who left his mark on silver with a personal best time of 10.05, almost defeating the British Romell Grave (10.06). In the long jump, on the other hand, Mattia Furlani won silver. For the Castelli Romani young man, the first jump proved decisive, as he landed at 8.38, matching his U20 world record set at the Savona meeting last May. Miltiadis Tentoglu, the Greek champion, took the first step on the podium (8.65), while Swiss Simon Ehammer finished third (8.31). Francesco Fortunato also had an excellent performance in the 20-kilometer walk. The Apulian, who secured the gold medal with Valentina Trapletti at the World Mixed Relay Championships in Antalya last April, secured the bronze medal around his neck, achieving his first podium victory at the continental level. Perseus Karlstroem of Sweden (1:19.13) won ahead of Spaniard Paul McGrath (+0.18) and the Italian (+0.41).
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