Agate de Sousa misses long jump bronze by two centimeters at European Athletics Championships in Birmingham

Long jump final

Agate de Sousa finished fourth in the long jump final at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham on Sunday, 16 August, jumping 6.96m on her third attempt and missing the bronze medal by two centimeters. The competition was decided by margins of a single centimeter between each of the top three: Larissa Iapichino of Italy took gold with 7.00m, Jazmin Sawyers of Great Britain silver with 6.99m, and Hilary Kpatcha of France bronze with 6.98m. The top five finishers were separated by just six centimeters.

Agate had entered the final in strong form, having qualified with 7.00m on her first jump in Saturday's qualification, her best mark of the season and the second-best of the entire qualifying round. Only Germany's Malaika Mihambo, ranked number one in Europe, had jumped further in qualifying with 7.10m. Iapichino, second in the European rankings, holds a personal best of 7.12m, an Italian record set in July. In the final, Mihambo opened with 6.94m, while Iapichino landed exactly 7.00m on her first attempt and Kpatcha reached 6.98m on her third jump. Agate opened with 6.84m before improving to 6.96m on her third attempt, asking the crowd for applause before her run-up.

Career path

Agate de Sousa, 26, was born in São Tomé and Príncipe and began her athletic career as a 100m sprinter. She started with shot put as a child, but was advised to try jumping because of her slender frame. She transitioned to the long jump in 2019, the year she moved to Europe, and competes for Benfica. Her bronze at the 2024 European Championships in Rome, her debut for Portugal, remains the best Portuguese result in the discipline at outdoor Europeans. In 2025 she became world university champion, and earlier this year she won gold at the World Indoor Championships in Toruń with 6.92m. Her outdoor personal best stands at 7.03m.

After qualifying on Saturday, Agate reflected on her approach to the final.

Tomorrow is another day, the same opponents and we know that they also train and the others are also jumping well. I have to go with everything, knowing that anything can happen. I really want the medal. If it's gold, even better. But if not, life goes on.

She also noted that the national record, held by Naide Gomes since 2008 at 7.12m, remained a target. Gomes won silver at the European Championships in Göteborg in 2006 and Barcelona in 2010, the best Portuguese performances in the discipline before Agate's bronze.

Other Portuguese results

Pedro Buaró finished sixth in the men's pole vault, clearing 5.60m, the same height he achieved in qualification. He did not clear the next bar and ended his competition there.

Portugal also competed in the debut of the mixed 4x100m relay at the European Championships, one of the new events introduced in Birmingham. The Portuguese team finished fifth in 40.90 seconds. Great Britain won the first European title in the discipline with 39.97 seconds, a European record, ahead of Germany (40.11s) and Spain (40.42s). The race gave Britain's Amy Hunt her fourth gold medal of the championships. Patrícia Silva added a bronze for Portugal in the 1500m, finishing as the third-fastest in the race.