Nicolò Martinenghi added the dash to his 100m victory, the winning g margin in the 50m, for a repeat of the sprint double he first achieved at Rome 2022, more reminiscent of the the Midas Touch that grabbed him Olympic gold by 0.02sec over 100m in.the same city two years ago.

Martinenghi's 26.57 ket at bay a snap for silver: Simone Cerasuolo, the champion's teammate and a man who set a championship record of 26.20 in heats an backed top with Dutchman Koen De Groot, a 26.23 in semis could not replicate that speed today, tied with in 26.62.

In that sense, Martinenghi, not for the first time, emerges the racer, the winner when others fail to achieve their proven potential come the hour, in the showdown, not the trial. "It was a very strange race. I knew the final would be different from the earlier rounds," said Martinenghi, through the Italian federation FIN.

Afterwards the medals ceremony, 'Tete' (frog) and Martinenghi is affectionately known as, added:

"I like being the underdog. There’s a greater sense of freedom, and I’m able to perform better. I still love what I do; I’m still having a lot of fun. Before coming here, I had a routine MRI; the images weren't perfect, but the clinical picture was fine. I feel good—I can't recall having an injury since I've been here. And in that regard, you have to be really good at making the mental switch."

That 0.05sec between gold and snap silver makes the podium the tightest in the history of the event, overtaking the gap seen in 2024, when Hüseyin Emre Sakçı beat Kristian Pitshugin by 0.10.

Yet, some things from the old world down but not yet out survived yet another championship. Adam Peaty 2018 was the fastest of the four times the Brit won the titler: 26.09. It remains the fastest win at the continental showcase.

Now Ramsay-Peaty, the Brit also won by the biggest margin that yes: 0.7sec ahead of Italian Fabbio Scozzoli: that's getting on for twice the range on the clock covered by the entire final today in Paris: 0.44.

Martinenghi, the 27-year-old from Varese (who competes for CC Aniene) and is coached by Matteo Giunta at the Verona performance centre, noted the fight, not the time, and then raised Cerasuolo's arm in the air:

"I enjoy these challenges; they really fire me up. Repeating the feat from Rome would have been unthinkable until recently. Kudos to Cerasuolo; he put in three incredible rounds of racing. The future belongs to him."

Cerasuolo, a 23-year-old from Romagna (representing Fiamme Oro and Imolanuoto) coached by Cesare Casella, wasn't happy:

"I was more tense than yesterday. That’s the nature of finals. We need to learn from what didn't work - which, I’d say, was quite a few things. Being four-tenths of a second slower than in the qualifying rounds is significant, but you learn and move on."

The History File below ...