Díaz Hernández wins European Championships gold with 18.15m

Andy Díaz Hernández won the European Championships triple jump with 18.15m, while Pedro Pichardo took silver at 17.76m. Italy also collected bronze through Andrea Dallavalle, who reached 17.37m.

The winning mark moved Díaz Hernández to fourth on the world all-time list. Only Jonathan Edwards, Christian Taylor and Jordan Díaz Fortun have jumped farther, placing two athletes named Díaz among the event’s leading performers.

Díaz Hernández produced the decisive effort with his second attempt at Alexander Stadium and followed it with 17.78m in the third round. His 18.15m was three centimetres below the European Championships record of 18.18m, set by Jordan Díaz Fortun in Rome two years earlier.

The Italian had arrived as Europe’s leading jumper this season after recording 17.87m. He improved significantly on that mark to secure his first major outdoor title at the age of 30, and the performance also carried the world-leading mark and a national record.

Pichardo, the reigning world champion, finished second after opening with his season’s best of 17.76m, but could not match the Italian’s distance. Dallavalle’s 17.37m gave Italy two places on the podium.

Thomas Gogois of France placed fourth with 17.21m, while Turkey’s Can Özüpek was fifth on a season’s best of 16.73m. Austria’s Endiorass Kingley, France’s Jonathan Seremes and Greece’s Dimitrios Tsiamis completed the top eight with 16.57m, 16.31m and 16.27m respectively.