Welcome to our coverage of Day 5. It is six am in the morning, and I am sitting in our small farmhouse kitchen at the table provided by my Grandma Violet. The sun is just coming up, and I am having a nice hot black tea, some water, and grilled, steamed veggies. A friend has a wonderful organic garden (half acre), and we trade wine for wonderful summer vegetables.
Eurovision Sports has provided great coverage for five days now. Hannah England, Phil Minshul, Adam Setleff and Tim Hutchings do a fantastic job for Eurovision (Steve Cram and Paula Radford on BBC, where I see clips). Only issue has been some crashing on streaming, which is always fixed in a minute or two.
Here are my deep thoughts on the fifth Day of Birmingham 2026:
- Nadia Battocletti completes the double double! No woman had ever defended 10,000m titles at Europeans. Now, Nadia Battocletti has defended the 5000m and 10,000m! In the 26-lapper, like the 12.5-lapper, Nadia Battocletti waited until 200m to go. Her sprint was impressive, building 20 meters on Koster in 40 meters. Using a 61-second last 400m (sub 29 last 200 meters), Battocletti knows how to win championship medals, running 31:41.17. Maureen Koster , NED, takes silver in 31:45.76, and Jana Van Lent, BEL, takes bronze in 31:47.81.
- Tamberi takes his fifth title! Gianmarco Tamberi came into the EAC with a seasonal best of 2.23 meters. The Italian high jumper, who cuts off half his beard before the championships for good luck, delivered a big seasonal best of 2.32 meters! Oleh Doroschuk, UKR, the fine Ukrainian jumper, took silver in 2.30m! Matteo Sioli, ITA, was bronze in 2.27m. Italy takes two medals in the high jump!
- Jorinde van Klinken takes gold in discus! Jorinde had already won silver in the shot put, threw 67.67 meters for the gold. Shanice Craft, GER, took silver in 65.72m, and Vanessa Kamga, SWE, took the bronze in 64.61 meters.
- Warholm wins 4th title! Karsten Warholm won by over one second, setting a meet record of 46.63. Warholm was aggressive early on and did not falter, taking gold! Emil Agyekum, GER, took silver in 47.87, with Ismail Nezir, TUR, taking bronze in 48.26. The 400m hurdles combines the challenges of the 400m flat and then adds ten hurdles, a brutal, epic race!
- Exciting 200 meters won by Ansah! Owen Ansah, GER, went by Zharnel Hughes with fifty meters to go and took gold in 19.95! Zharnel Hughes, GB, added silver to his medal count with a well-run 20.16, and a tie for bronze! Egosa Fostine Desalu, ITA, and Timothe Mumenthaler, SUI, both ran 20.26 and tied for bronze!
- The race of the Champs, Women’s 800m, was won by Audrey Werro! Each athlete ran their race, and Audrey Werro did it best, taking gold in a CR of 1:54.81, going back to 1982! Keely Hodgkinson, GB, did not give up, taking silver in 1:55.01, and Femke Broeders-Bol, NED, in her first year as an 800m racer, took bronze in 1:55.54, equalling the NR of Ellen Van Langhem!
