George Mills claimed Great Britain’s first medal at the European Athletics Championships with silver in the 5,000 metres, before Romell Glave won 100m bronze in Rome.
Mills ran 13 minutes and 21.38 seconds as world champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen pulled clear to comfortably secure a third successive European 5,000m crown.
The 25-year-old Yorkshireman – son of former England footballer Danny Mills – had kept himself near the front of the 27-man field before Norwegian Ingebrigtsen, Olympic champion at 1,500m, accelerated away around the final bend to win gold in a season-best 13mins and 20.11secs.
James West finished seventh while fellow Briton Jack Rowe, who was an early faller, placed 17th.
Glave – who came through to win a twice-restarted opening semi-final – then marked his major senior championship debut with a podium finish, clocking 10.06secs as Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs (10.02) took gold ahead of Italian team-mate Chituru Ali.
CJ Ujah – returning from a 22-month drugs ban after a positive test at the Tokyo Olympics, which saw Britain’s 4x100m relay squad stripped of their silver medal – had earlier placed fifth in his heat.
Jacob Fincham-Dukes (8.12m) finished fourth in the long lump final as Greece’s Olympic and world champion Miltiadis Tentoglou defended his European title, twice setting a new championship record of 8.65m.
Cindy Sember ran a season-best 12.56 to come fourth in the women’s 100m hurdles final as Cyrena Samba-Mayela won gold for France in a championship record 12.31.
In the heptathlon, Jade O’Dowda produced season’s best in both the long jump and javelin before running third in the 800m to finish seventh overall with 6,314 points.
Two-time Olympic champion Nafi Thiam claimed a third European gold, setting a new championship record of 6,848. Reigning world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson had withdrawn on Friday evening due to injury.
Scott Lincoln (20.88m) was fourth in the men’s shot put, where Leonardo Fabbri delighted the home crowd to win with a competition record throw of 22.45m.
Tade Ojora (13.76) finished seventh in the opening semi-final of the men’s 110m hurdles. Lorenzo Simonelli went on to claim another gold for Italy, winning the final in a new national record of 13.05.
In the men’s 20km race walk final, Callum Wilkinson finished ninth, with Sweden’s Perseus Karlstrom taking the title.
In the men’s 800m semi-finals, Elliot Giles (1min 46.50secs) placed second in his heat to progress automatically, but in the other race British team-mate Thomas Randolph paid for a fast start as he faded in the home straight to finish last.
Croatia’s Sandra Elkasevic claimed a record seventh European Championships gold medal as she won the women’s discus final with a first-round throw of 67.04m.
In Saturday’s morning session at the Stadio Olimpico, world indoor champion Molly Caudery comfortably qualified for the pole vault final, needing just one jump at 4.50m.
However, Olympic bronze medallist Holly Bradshaw, hampered by a back problem suffered during her warm-up, could not clear at 4.25m after passing at 4.10m, so missed out on a place in the final.
Amy Hunt, who trains in Italy and is making her senior European debut, clocked 11.26 seconds as she came through the heats of the women’s 100m.
Elsewhere, Jake Norris (75.73m) booked his spot in the final of the men’s hammer, while Mark Pearce (8:34.46) qualified in the 3,000m steeplechase.
Zak Seddon, though, missed out in the other steeplechase heat, recovering from a fall to place 10th, and Alex Haydock-Wilson (46.04secs) ranked 15th overall in the men’s 400m.
