A stunning Mattia Furlani is Italy’s cover star on the fifth day of the 20th World Athletics Championships. Yesterday, at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, the champion from Castelli Romani won an epic gold medal in the men's long jump, bringing an Italian back to the outdoor world championship podium 18 years after Andrew Howe's silver medal at the other Japanese event, Osaka 2007. This historic triumph joins the two women's titles won for Italy by Fiona May (Gothenburg 1995 and Edmonton 2001). Additionally, this is the first career world title at the outdoor level for the Paris Olympic bronze medalist, who at the age of 20 became the youngest ever champion in this event (beating American Carl Lewis, who won at 22 in Helsinki 1983). He previously won a silver medal at Glasgow 2024 and a gold medal at Nanjing 2025, both of which were indoor events. Ninth after the qualifying round with 8.07, a mark that earned him a place in the final reserved for the top 12, the Italian phenomenon completed his first four jumps with a foul, an 8.13, another foul, and an 8.22, forcefully breaking into contention for the top three. In the fifth and penultimate round, he recorded a magnificent 8.39, one centimeter better than his previous personal best of 8.38, set in June last year at the European Championships in Rome, where he finished second behind two-time Greek Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglu (only 11th in today's event). An incredible result for the young Roman, who, already sure of winning gold, closed with a 6th jump at 8.07. None of his competitors performed any better, with Jamaican Tajay Gayle (8.34) and Chinese Yuhao Shi (8.33) finishing in second and third place, respectively, while Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer (8.30) finished fourth.