The first track final of the night saw Karsten Warholm absolutely rip around the Stadio Olimpico to defend his European 400m hurdles title in a new championship record of 46.98 seconds, the world record holder from Norway glancing straight up at the stadium clock for further approval of his latest supreme and quite startling effort.
In immediate and suitably swift succession, Femke Bol also defended her 400m hurdles titles in a championship record of 52.49 seconds, the 24-year-old Dutch star winning by an extraordinary margin of almost two seconds, before likewise giving herself a calm nod of satisfaction.
Who dared ask if these European Championships possibly don’t count for much just over six weeks out from the Paris Olympics?
What is certain is that both Warholm and Bol will now head from Rome to Paris with nothing more than gold medal ambitions.
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For Warholm, the 28-year-old who at the delayed Tokyo Olympics three years ago ran that astonishing world record of 45.94 seconds, this also marked his third European title in a row, to go with his three World Championship titles.
Warholm had over half a second to spare on Italy’s Alessandro Sibilio, who won their then 18th medal of these championships so far when clocking a national record of 47.50, Carl Bengtstrom from Sweden also running a national record of 47.94 to win bronze.
For Bol, who on Wednesday night’s closing session will turn her attention to the women’s 4x400m relay and the quest to defend that title too, her 52.49 seconds was also the fastest in the world this year, ample evidence of her Paris ambitions too.
Bol won by over 10 metres, Louise Maraval from France won silver in 54.23, a lifetime best, with Bol’s team-mate Cathelijn Peeters winning bronze in 54.37.
Things were even more naturally strung out in the women’s 10,000m final, where Nadia Battocletti delighted the home crowd to win her second gold medal for Italy, also running a national record of 30:51.32, to sit along her 5,000m gold. She saved all of her best for the last 600m as she raced away from Diane Van Es from the Netherlands, the 22-year-old Megan Keith winning bronze for Britain.
The two Irish women in that final, Anika Thompson and Laura Mooney, finished in 20th and 26th place respectively, Thompson clocking 33:19.42, and Mooney 34:03.94
Anything less than a gold medal in the high jump for Gianmarco Tamberi would have been quite a disappointment, Italy’s joint Olympic champion making sure of that as the only man to clear 2.31m, before raising the bar to a European lead of 2.34m. Ever the entertainer, Tamberi cleared that too, to the absolute delight of the home crowd.
Briefly, Tamberi acted as it he may have injured his ankle in the process, before embracing the rapturous applause. Then he jumped again, also clearing another new championship record height of 2.37m. His ambitions now turn to Paris too.
So to Wednesday night’s closing session, where much of the attention turns to reigning Olympic 1,500m champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
The 23-year-old from Norway has already completed the first half of a potential third consecutive European 1,500m/5,000m double, winning the 5,000m with another masterclass of tactical running last Saturday, the 23-year-old easing away from the entire field from the bell and it’s impossible to see him losing this one
But you know what they say about making championship finals, and after an utterly bold and astutely timed run by Andrew Coscoran earned him a place in the 1,500 metres showdown, he may not be too far off the minor medal mix.
Coscoran knows perfectly well nothing whatsoever can be left to chance in these 1,500m matters, the 27-year-old from Dublin hitting the front approaching the bell of his semi-final on Monday to ensure he steered clear of any trouble. And it’s just as well he did – a tangle of runners just after that 400m to go taking down five of his rivals, a reminder too of the potential carnage when qualifying is so tight.
Later, all five of those fallers were added to Wednesday’s final on appeal, this now making it a 17-man showdown instead of the standard dozen, which might well be asking even more carnage.
With only the top six from the two semi-finals automatically through, Coscoran held on to claim fifth in 3:38.52, Ingebrigtsen from Norway displaying his trademark coolness to come through late to win in 3:37.65.
