Matteo Sioli Wins Bronze as Gianmarco Tamberi Takes Fourth European High Jump Title

Matteo Sioli of Italy won bronze in the men’s high jump at the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on Thursday, August 14, 2026, clearing 2.27 metres at Alexander Stadium. The 20-year-old from the Milan area claimed his first senior international medal on a night when teammate Gianmarco Tamberi added a fourth European title at 2.32m — but Sioli’s evening ended in frustration when he withdrew after a muscle injury on his first attempt at 2.30m.

Editor’s note: This article draws on reporting from World Athletics, BBC Sport, ANSA, and European Athletics results data, August 11–14, 2026.

Final result at a glance

Detail	Information
Event	Men’s high jump final
Date & time	August 14, 2026 — 20:00 local (BST)
Venue	Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, United Kingdom
Gold	Gianmarco Tamberi (Italy) — 2.32m
Silver	Oleh Doroshchuk (Ukraine) — 2.30m
Bronze	Matteo Sioli (Italy) — 2.27m

Tamberi and Doroshchuk both cleared 2.30m before the Italian went over 2.32m on his second attempt at that height — a season’s best that decided the title. Doroshchuk held silver on countback at 2.30m, while Sioli secured third after a clean series through 2.27m.

A first senior medal for Sioli

Sioli entered Birmingham as one of Italy’s rising high jumpers after a rapid climb through junior and under-23 ranks. Born in Milan on October 1, 2005, he trains in Paderno Dugnano with coach Felice Delaini and competes for Fiamme Azzurre.

Before Birmingham, his résumé already included:

Year	Competition	Result
2024	World U20 Championships (Lima)	Silver — 2.23m
2025	European Indoor Championships (Apeldoorn)	Bronze — 2.29m
2025	European U23 Championships (Bergen)	Gold — 2.30m
2026	Italian Championships (Florence)	National title — 2.30m

The 2.30m he equalled in Florence in July 2026 matched his outdoor personal best and marked him as a contender for a first senior global podium. At the European Championships, he qualified on August 11 with 2.23m, sharing fifth place in his qualifying group alongside Tamberi.

In the final, Sioli was flawless through the opening heights. He passed early bars, then cleared 2.20m, 2.23m, and 2.27m without a miss. When the bar rose to 2.30m — the height that would have kept him in the fight for gold — he failed on his first try and felt a muscle strain. Rather than risk further damage, he chose not to continue. His 2.27m stood as bronze.

For Sioli, the medal still represented a milestone: his debut senior international podium at a major outdoor championship, earned against a field that included the Olympic and world champion in Tamberi and the indoor silver medallist Doroshchuk.

Tamberi’s fourth European crown

Tamberi’s gold extended one of the defining careers in modern high jumping. The 31-year-old from Fano won his first European title in Amsterdam in 2016, added gold in Munich (2022) and Rome (2024), and now completed a fourth continental triumph in Birmingham — 10 years after that first victory.

The win carried extra weight because Tamberi had struggled for form since 2024. World Athletics reported that he had not cleared higher than 2.23m in either 2025 or 2026 before arriving in the United Kingdom. In Birmingham, he found his best jumping when the stakes were highest.

After sharing 2.30m with Doroshchuk, Tamberi raised the bar to 2.32m and sailed over on his second attempt — his best outdoor mark of the season and enough to separate him from the Ukrainian by two centimetres. BBC Sport footage showed Tamberi celebrating with characteristic flair after the clearance, underscoring a night that felt like a genuine return to top-level contention.

How the final unfolded

The men’s high jump final opened the evening session at Alexander Stadium on August 14. Thirty jumpers had contested qualification three days earlier; by the final, the battle narrowed to the sport’s elite bar-clearers.

Height	Tamberi	Doroshchuk	Sioli
2.20m	Pass	—	Clear
2.23m	Clear	—	Clear
2.27m	Clear	—	Clear
2.30m	Clear	Clear	Fail (injury — withdrew)
2.32m	Clear (2nd attempt)	—	—

Doroshchuk, who had beaten Sioli to indoor silver at Apeldoorn in 2025, again finished ahead of the Italian outdoors — but could not match Tamberi’s leap at 2.32m. Britain’s Joel Clarke-Khan, who had topped his qualifying group at the home championships, was among those who failed to reach the podium.

Italy’s high-jump double on a big night

Sioli’s bronze and Tamberi’s gold gave Italy two medals in the same event on a championship evening that also featured Nadia Battocletti’s distance double and other Italian successes across Birmingham.

The result highlighted the depth Italian athletics has built in the vertical jumps. Tamberi remains the sport’s most recognisable Italian high jumper — an Olympic champion and world medallist — while Sioli represents the next generation pushing toward 2.30m and beyond. Training under the same national programme, the pair have often been linked in Italian media as mentor and rival; in Birmingham, they shared an Italian one-two on the podium, with Sioli’s bronze the younger man’s breakthrough.

The injury at 2.30m leaves immediate questions about how soon Sioli can return to competition, but the bronze confirms he belongs among Europe’s best at 20.

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Discussion

Sioli left Birmingham with a medal and an unanswered question at the next height.

1. Was stopping at 2.30m the right call for a 20-year-old chasing his first senior podium?

Sioli had a real shot at silver if he cleared 2.30m, but pushing through a muscle strain could have cost far more than one medal. In championship high jump, when is caution the braver choice?

2. Does Tamberi’s 2.32m mark a lasting return to form, or a one-week peak after two difficult seasons?

The Olympic champion had barely jumped above 2.23m all year before Birmingham. Does a fourth European title signal he is back among the world’s best, or mainly that he still peaks when it matters most?

Share your read on Italy’s high-jump night and what Sioli’s bronze means for the next Olympic cycle.