Leonardo Fabbri has competed prolifically this season but the Italian saved his best performance for the last meeting of his season on a cool evening in the Brussels Diamond League final on Saturday (14) evening.
Competing in his 25th meeting of the season, Fabbri launched a knockout blow with 22.98m in the first round which bested a field which featured all three medallists from the Olympic Games, including three-time Olympic champion Ryan Crouser who improved to 22.79m with his fourth attempt.
Fabbri’s winning mark was a meeting record as well as an improvement on his Italian record as the 27-year-old nudged even closer to the long-standing European record of 23.06m which was set by East Germany’s Ulf Timmermann in 1988.
This was yet another significant accolade in what has been a memorable season for Fabbri. After winning bronze at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Fabbri improved to gold at the European Athletics Championships in Rome with a championship record of 22.45m.
However, on a rain-soaked night in the Stade de France, Fabbri couldn’t quite produce the same calibre of performance in a slippery throwing circle in the Olympic final where he finished fifth, the only blemish on an otherwise exceptional year for the Italian who has his sights on becoming just the fifth shot putter in history to break the 23 metre-barrier.
“It has been an amazing season but because of that upset during the Olympics, I was very motivated to win that Diamond. This season, my coach and I worked hard on being consistent during the competitions,” said Fabbri who admitted he wasn’t wholly satisfied with his evening’s work.
“I know I'm capable of getting that 23 metres so that's why I’m a little bit upset with the distance. Of course 22.98m is huge but next season we’ll hopefully get that 23 metres,” he added.
Italy's night in Brussels as Tamberi and Iapichino win
Like Fabbri, Gianmarco Tamberi could not produce his best form at the Olympic Games due to a well-documented illness on the eve of Paris 2024 but the European champion has since returned to full fitness, capping his season with a Diamond League title.
Tamberi shared an identical card with Ukraine’s Oleh Doroshchuk through until 2.31m but the ebullient Italian produced a last-gasp third-time clearance at 2.34m to take an outright victory over his younger Ukrainian rival.
And the theme of Italian success continued in the women’s long jump with European silver medallist Larissa Iapichino producing a winning jump of 6.80m in the second round to defeat the US duo of Monae’ Nichols (6.68m) and double Olympic medallist Jasmine Moore (6.61m).
Femke Bol rounded off her season by winning her fourth successive Diamond League title in the 400m hurdles with a typically controlled and well-measured performance in the last event of the programme.
Bol glided into the lead after the seventh hurdle and the reigning world and European champion still had strength in abundance at this late juncture of the season, opening up a one second-plus winning margin on a strong field in the home straight which included Olympic silver medallist Anna Cockrell.
Bol, who had to settle for bronze in the 400m hurdles final after anchoring the Netherlands to gold in the mixed 4x400m, took the victory in 52.45 - just shy of her meeting record of 52.11 - with Cockrell second in 53.71.
Pedro Pichardo took his third Diamond League title in the triple jump, winning with 17.33m in the second round against Germany’s former European champion Max Hess who continues his return to form with a second-place finish with 17.20m.
Steven Mills for European Athletics