Italian long jumper Mattia Furlani faced a disaster at the European Championships 2026 in Birmingham, as he got injured in his very first qualification attempt.
Italian long jumper
Mattia Furlani faced perhaps the worst fate possible at the
Athletics European Championships in Birmingham. The 2026 games started on Monday morning, with the Italian firmly among the race for the gold medal along with the likes of
Simon Ehammer and
Miltiadis Tentoglou.
The qualification was meant to ideally be a one-and-done process for the youngster who's jumped his record of 8.43m in May, as the required distance to qualify was only 8.15m. However, disaster struck in his very first attempt.
A distance of 773 in a 1,8m tailwind was already disappointing enough, but sadly the Italian was left clutching his thighs following the jump. For a while it seemed unclear if Furlani was going to return for his second jump, but the arrival of a wheelchair confirmed everyone's worst fears.
The distraught Italian was wheeled away, with his dream of European gold in tatters. Furlani suffered an first-degree hamstring injury at an event in China during May shortly after his PB heroics, but it remains to be seen whether these two injuries are linked.
The men's long jump final will take place without Furlani tomorrow on Tuesday at 20:16 UK time. You can find the
full results from Birmingham here.
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