World champion Furlani retires from European Athletics Championships after right thigh injury on first qualifying jump in Birmingham

First jump, immediate pain

Italy's European Athletics Championships in Birmingham began with a setback for the team's leading medal prospect. Mattia Furlani, the 21-year-old world champion long jumper from Rieti and member of the Fiamme Oro police sports group, attempted his first qualifying jump at the Alexander Stadium on the morning of 10 August 2026. He landed at a distance of 7.73 metres, but the landing was visibly poor. Furlani immediately grabbed his right thigh with an expression of pain and signalled to his bench and medical staff that he could not continue.

Wheelchair exit and immediate retirement

The signals from Furlani were described as immediate and unequivocal. He made clear he was unable to go on, raising the white flag and ending his continental championship before reaching the final. He left the stadium area in a wheelchair, according to Fanpage's reporting. The single jump of 7.73 metres was recorded as valid, but it was the only mark he would leave at these championships.

A recurrence of the Xiamen injury

Early indications point to a recurrence of the muscle problem that first stopped Furlani in late May 2026. At a Diamond League meeting in Xiamen, China, he suffered a first-degree lesion to the femoral biceps of his right leg, an injury that kept him away from competition for over a month. He had arrived in Birmingham in a state of gradual recovery, having worked his way back slowly over the preceding weeks. The new pain, felt in the same right thigh and possibly during the flight phase before landing, is suspected to be a direct recurrence of that earlier injury, roughly two and a half months after the original incident.

Conditions still being assessed

The exact severity of the new injury had not been confirmed in the immediate aftermath. Il Messaggero reported that Furlani's conditions would need to be verified, noting the pain probably occurred in flight as he landed awkwardly. The 21-year-old, who holds the world championship title and was the pre-competition favourite for gold in Birmingham, now faces another period of uncertainty. His aborted campaign lasted a single jump, and the focus shifts to medical evaluation of the right thigh and the recovery timeline that follows.