Gianmarco Tamberi crowned European athlete of 2026: he is the first Italian ever to win the title

A historic evening consecrates Italian athletics to the top of the continent. On Saturday 24 October, during the Golden Tracks ceremony in Lausanne, Gianmarco Tamberi was elected best European athlete of the year. At 34 years old, the Fiamme Oro jumper from the Marche region is the first Italian to win the highest European Athletics award, beating competition from champions such as the Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis and the Greek long jumper Miltiadis Tentoglou.

A triumphal season between Birmingham and Katowice

The prestigious award crowns a sequence of four triumphs achieved in the space of just 30 days. The journey began on 14 August at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, where Gimbo Tamberi won his fourth European outdoor title by crossing the bar at 2.32 meters at the second attempt, preceding the Ukrainian Oleh Doroshchuk and the Italian Matteo Sioli, third at 2.27 metres. During the celebrations, the champion involved the public by singing his best wishes for his daughter Camilla’s first birthday. Just 8 days later, in the Diamond League stage in Katowice, the athlete won with the measurement of 2.31 metres, overtaking the Jamaican Romaine Beckford thanks to fewer overall errors in the race.

The domination in Taranto and the seasonal record in Budapest

On 1 September the Italian player enriched his palmarès by winning the gold medal at the Mediterranean Games in Taranto with 2.25 metres, beating the Greek Antonios Merlos and his compatriot Christian Falocchi. The highest point of the season came on September 13th in Budapest, on the occasion of the Ultimate Championship with Tamberi who crossed 2.37 meters in the second assault, ahead of the American JuVaughn Harrison who was stopped at 2.30 metres. The performance represents the best world measurement for the year 2026, bringing the jumper back to the heights reached during the Tokyo Olympics and the European Championships in Rome.

The other winners of the evening

The ceremony saw the presentation of the award by the continental president Dobromir Karamarinov, in the presence of the FIDAL president Stefano Mei. Among women, the title of athlete of the year went to the Swiss four-hundredth athlete Audrey Werro, a race in which Nadia Battocletti was also a candidate. The rising star awards went to Czech Michal Rada and Bulgaria’s Victoria Angelova, while the Golden Crown awards for the marathon walk went to Italians Sofia Fiorini and Massimo Stano.