Great performances, top event ratings, passion and enthusiasm for the Rome 2024 European Athletics Championships in the capital’s historic Foro Italico complex. An extraordinary weekend for athletics and for the host nation’s team (known as ‘Azzurri‘ after the colour of their jerseys), projected towards an unprecedented medal haul.
Crowds and viewers celebrate Athletics at the Foro Italico
The growing audience numbers follow the brilliant performances of European athletes over the first days of the competition and of Italy’s own Azzurri team. Aggregate pre-sale of tickets exceeded 120,000, with around 40 thousand spectators present at the Olympic Stadium to watch a magical Saturday of Italian athletics.
The Fan Village and the Medal Plaza in front of the Sphere fountain at the Foro Italico also benefit from the heightened attention to the event, with bustling crowds in the free-access fan area cheering their favourite athletes the awards ceremonies. The excitement is building up for Sunday evening’s event at 23.20, when Marcell Jacobs and Chituru Ali (the historic double Gold-Silver medal winners in the 100 meters) will take to the stage as well as Mattia Furlani for his silver in the long jump. At 19.20 the stage and Italy’s national anthem will play once again for Lorenzo Simonelli, who dominated the 110 hurdles final yesterday.
European protagonists grip TV and Media viewers
International media at the covering the event included 41 TV and radio broadcasters, supported by 625 production crew members present at the Olympic Stadium, in addition to 725 accredited journalists and photographers for the first two days of competitions.
The first television viewing data confirm great interest in European Athletics’ prime event: Saturday evening national broadcaster RAI 2 recorded an average audience of over 2.2 million in its prime time slot, with peaks of 2.5 million and a viewership share of 17%. In addition the entertainment show “L’ Acchiappa Talenti” on the flagship RAI 1, also dedicated time to the championships, including a live insert of the 100 mt men’s final won by Italy’s Marcell Jacobs, which reached a 14.03% audience figure.
On Italy’s Sky Sport HD, the Saturday evening session attracted 1 million athletics fans. The viewership peaked at 21.20 approximately, with 350 thousand viewers connected for the shot put final dominated by Leonardo Fabbri, and the men’s 100 meters final, which attracted 319 thousand spectators.
In Germany, the national network ZDF reached 3.1 million viewers, with a share of 16.4%. Dutch broadcaster NPO3 reported a 17.6% market share, while YLE TV in Finland reached a record share of 56%.
The medal table: for Italy it is already a record at the European Championships
In a country where sports coverage is usually dominated by football, athletics fever spread as the number of medal winning Italian champions confirmed the country’s high level participation in the event. With Sundays’s gold medal from Yeman Crippa, silver from Pietro Riva and the team gold in the half marathon, Italy currently dominates the medal table, with 13 medals, of which 7 gold, 5 silver and 1 bronze, an unprecedented haul compared to the previous 25 editions of the European Championships from 1934 to today (the maximum result for Italy was 12 medals and 5 golds in Split, in 1990).
Technical performance of the highest level
The competition has expressed a high technical level in the first days, with 8 European Championship records established so far (including those of the Italians Nadia Battocletti in the 5,000 metres, Leonardo Fabbri in the shot put and Yeman Crippa in the half marathon), the 15 national records (of including 5 Italians, with Lorenzo Simonelli in the 110 meters hurdles – then improved in the final – Nadia Battocletti, Sveva Gerevini in the heptathlon and the 4×400 mixed relay) and finally the world and European Under 20 record of Mattia Furlani in the long jump. The event recorded two best world performances of the year, plus three best European performances. There are already 102 personal records set by the competing athletes, including 15 by the Italians.
The competition continues until Wednesday
After Sunday’s morning session (the gold-silver double by Yeman Crippa and Pietro Riva in the half marathon and the over 4 thousand amateur runners who took part in the Roma10K race starting from the Fori Imperiali) Gianmarco Tamberi took his first jumps at the Olimpico, and the fan-favourite known affectionally as “Gimbo” qualified for the highly anticipated Tuesday evening final of the high jump, in the presence of the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella, scheduled to be present at the Stadium.
Monday will see the 200 meter and 400 meter dash specialists, among others. In the same session, the Dutch champion Femke Bol be the protagonist in the 400 meters hurdles. Grand finale on Wednesday with the 4×100 and 4×400 relays and the Swedish pole vault phenomenon Armand Duplantis. Pure sporting entertainment and growing participation, also thanks to the new promotional sale for youths which allows all under 18s and accompanying adults to participate in the evening sessions for just 5 Euros.