Day 5 at the 2026 European Athletics Championships: Werro Stuns Hodgkinson, Warholm Makes History

The Backstory: Reinstated After a Fall

What made Werro's victory remarkable was the journey to the start line. During Thursday's semi-final, Werro was tripped and fell, finishing last. The Swiss team successfully appealed under Technical Rule 17.1.1, and Werro was reinstated into the final .

Just hours before her greatest triumph, she was on the verge of elimination. The 22-year-old Swiss athlete had already announced herself on the world stage earlier in the season by running the third-fastest women's 800m time in history — 1:53.80 at the Paris Diamond League on June 28 .

Men's 400m Hurdles: Karsten Warholm's Historic Fourth Title

If the women's 800m was about redemption, the men's 400m hurdles was about dominance. Karsten Warholm (NOR) won his fourth successive European 400m hurdles gold in a championship record of 46.63, breaking his own previous championship record of 46.98 . He becomes the first man to win four European titles in this event .

Warholm, the world record holder (45.94 from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics), was never seriously challenged. Germany's Emil Agyekum took silver in 47.87, while Turkey's İsmail Nezir claimed bronze in 48.26 .

Other Day-Five Gold Medal Events

• Men's 200m: Owen Ansah (GER) won gold in 19.95 seconds. Zharnel Hughes (GBR) took silver in 20.16 .
• Women's 10,000m: Nadia Battocletti (ITA) won gold, completing consecutive European distance doubles .
• Men's high jump: Gianmarco Tamberi (ITA) won his fourth European high jump title .
• Women's discus: A gold medal was also awarded on day five .

Medal Table After Day Five

After five days of competition, Italy led the medal table with 5 gold medals and 10 total medals. Great Britain was second with 4 golds and 10 total, while Germany held third with 3 golds and 12 total .