At the European Athletics Championships in Rome last night Nadia Battocletti dominated the 10,000 meters, taking the Italian record to 30'51"32. Gimbo Tamberi in the high jump almost lost, then won on an evening that sent the Olympic Stadium into a frenzy. There are now 20 medals, thanks to Alessandro Sibilio's silver in the 400 hurdles with the Italian record raised to 47"50.

In the evening, to top it off, Dario Dexter raised the decathlon record to 8235 points. President Mattarella, who arrived at the Olympic just minutes before all this happened, could not have chosen a better day to meet with Italian athletics.

“Everything is a wonder.” Nadia Battocletti is at a loss for words: on Friday, in the 5000, she had won the first of ten blue medals in these incredible European Championships. She repeated herself on the 10000 with a perfect race, controlled from start to finish. Light and sure, in a leading group that lap after lap was thinning: first eight athletes. Then six. Then three. Then just one: her.

Gianmarco Tamberi, the captain, has some trouble with the bar at 2.29 in the high jump. One mistake, then another. Five minutes after Nadia Battocletti's triumph, at the last available chance, Tamberi summons his strength and the crowd in the corner, full as never before in these European Championships. Gimbo lengthens his run-up by a couple of steps and flies past 2.31. With victory now clinched, he has the bar set first at 2.34 and then at 2.37. The two flights are an apotheosis: the Italian is the first athlete to win three European titles in the same specialty, and he also improves the championships record.