Greek star Tentoglou wins fourth consecutive long jump title at European championships

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece overcame windy conditions to win his fourth consecutive long jump title at the European championships on Tuesday.

The two-time Olympic champion's mark of 8.44 meters on his fourth attempt was good enough for gold at Alexander Stadium on Day 2 of the continental track-and-field competition.

“This was one of the hardest finals I have ever done,” the 28-year-old Tentoglou said. “I am good in all conditions but this wind was so hard on us long jumpers. It was changing all the time and always negative.”

Switzerland’s Simon Ehammer (8.29 meters) took silver in Tuesday's final, and Bozhidar Sarâboyukov (8.26 meters) of Bulgaria was third.

“Ehammer is a very strong guy and he was kind of OK with it. But for the other jumpers and me, it was incredibly difficult,” Tentoglou said. "I had to try so hard for this 8.44m jump. It is nothing for me usually but today it was so hard to do. This was not just a regular 8.40m jump for me. It was big jump. So I appreciate it a lot.

“This is one of my most precious victories because it is also a complex season for me. This is the start of winning golds again.”

At the 2024 Paris Games, Tentoglou became just the second man — Carl Lewis is the other — to win two consecutive Olympic long jump titles.

Britain's Romell Glave won gold and teammate Jeremiah Azu took silver in the final of the men's 100 meters.

The 26-year-old Glave improved on his bronze in Rome two years ago by finishing first in 10.09 seconds. Azu crossed in 10.16. Owen Ansah (10.19) of Germany was third.

“It’s an amazing feeling. The work I’ve put in to reach this point was a lot,” Glave said. “Me and my coach have been working on the first 30 metes. It paid off and it’s amazing to upgrade my bronze from 2024.”

It came a night after Amy Hunt won gold for Britain in the women’s 100.

Two-time defending champion Marcell Jacobs pulled up halfway through Tuesday's final with an apparent leg injury before jogging across the line. Jacobs won gold in the 100 at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Nadine Visser of the Netherlands secured her first major outdoor title by winning the women's 100 meter hurdles — barely.

Visser crossed the line in 12.668 seconds to win by one-thousandth of a second over Poland's Pia Skrzyszowska, the 2022 champion.

“This is a real relief, honestly. It still hasn’t sunk in completely. This is the medal I’ve wanted for a very long time,” the 31-year-old Visser said.

“Winning by a thousandth, this was unnecessary. I’m a really big perfectionist, always thinking about things that could have gone better. Waiting for the photo finish, I wasn’t really thinking about whether I would get the gold medal or not, I just felt this wasn’t the perfect race,” she added. “In the end it doesn’t matter because it was enough. I am so happy.”

Laeticia Bapté (12.73) of France was third.

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Italy's Lamont Marcell Jacobs leaves the track after the men's 100 meters final at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Netherlands' Nadine Visser crosses the line to win gold ahead of Poland's Pia Skrzyszowska, silver, in the women's 100 meters hurdles final at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Britain's Romell Glave celebrates winning the gold medal in the men's 100 meters final at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou celebrates after winning the gold medal in the men's long jump final at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Greece's Miltiadis Tentoglou makes an attempt in the men's long jump final at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, England, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

WENDOVER, Utah (AP) — The only person to break the sound barrier in a car earned another world record Tuesday in a show of force for hydrogen power.

British driver Andy Green reached 406.320 mph (653.908 kph) in a car powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines with a combined 1,600 horsepower, setting the record for that vehicle category, according to the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the international governing body of motor sports.

The 64-year-old retired Royal Air Force pilot rocketed across the crystalline crust at Utah’s famous Bonneville Salt Flats in a 32-foot (9.75-meter) car engineered by British construction equipment manufacturer JCB. The engines, adapted from those used in the company’s heavy machinery, mix pressurized hydrogen gas with air and ignite it to create bursts of power.

“It’s magic to be able to showcase this technology and to showcase how good the engineering is on the best racing surface in the world, Bonneville Salt Flats,” Green told The Associated Press after the run.

To be clear, Tuesday’s feat didn’t come close to approaching the overall land-speed record, which Green set with jet power in 1997. That year, he climbed into the Thrust SSC, a black needle sandwiched between two cartoonishly large jet engines, and hit 763.035 mph (1,227.985 kph), breaking the sound barrier and achieving a feat no one has come close to matching. His runs in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert produced sonic booms that shook the nearby town of Gerlach.

In 2006, Green also set the land-speed record for a diesel-powered car — 350.092 mph (563.4 kph) — at the Bonneville Salt Flats. He returned there Tuesday with the goal of beating that mark using hydrogen power, which he has called the “fuel of the future.”

In targeting his diesel speed, Green easily topped the previous hydrogen combustion world record of 185.5 mph (298.5 kph). He had a 10-mile (16-kilometer) straightaway to build speed. A few dozen JCB staff members and reporters watched from a distance through cameras and binoculars.

Green said the cockpit of the car he used on Tuesday was “probably a little hotter” than in the jet-powered vehicle from 1997, with temperatures routinely above 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius).

“But I have been training four months for that, both training in the gym and actually just getting used to it with hot baths,” he said.

A remnant of a prehistoric lake bed, the Bonneville Salt Flats are about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Salt Lake City and sit atop a shallow aquifer that cools the tires. The low-friction surface and dry desert air are conducive to speed and have beckoned drivers since the first race there in 1914.

“It looks like snow, and it behaves a bit like packed snow — it is surprisingly slippery,” Green said.

Green was no stranger to speed when he took his first racing job. He had been flying supersonic military jets when he spotted a 1994 British newspaper ad seeking a high-speed driver to break the sound barrier.

Green did not approach supersonic speeds on Tuesday, but JCB engineers hope his feat with hydrogen power will shake up the clean-energy industry.

The company's chairman has argued that hydrogen can better handle the demands of heavy industries than electric power.

Hydrogen is only as clean as its source, and the vast majority is currently produced from fossil fuels. JCB signed a deal to buy green hydrogen, which is created using renewable energy but makes up a tiny fraction of global hydrogen production.

The concept and development of such technology has been around for decades, but has had a resurgence over the past several years, said Greg Keoleian, a professor of sustainable systems at the University of Michigan and co-director of the school’s MI Hydrogen initiative.

Many major automakers have already developed hydrogen internal combustion engines or hydrogen fuel cell technology, but the higher cost of hydrogen production compared with gas and diesel is a barrier to wider usage, Keoleian said.

“It represents an important energy carrier for decarbonizing areas of the economy,” he said. “As far as its deployment, it’s influenced heavily by the cost.”

An emerging focus, he said, is extracting hydrogen from natural deposits instead of separating it from water, a prospect that could significantly reduce costs.

Associated Press reporter Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed reporting.

British driver Andy Green and the JCB engineering team pose with the car used to set a new land speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)

British driver Andy Green speaks to reporters after setting a new land speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026, at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)

British driver Andy Green, center, and the JCB engineering team celebrate setting a new land speed record for a hydrogen-powered vehicle at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)

The JCB Hydromax sits on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah, where Andy Green aims to drive it to a land speed record for cars powered by hydrogen internal combustion engines, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)

FILE - British driver Andy Green goes for a new unofficial world diesel powered land speed record of over 328 mph over two runs Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2006, on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac,File)

Racing stickers cover a sign for Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats, home to a speedway where several land speed records have been set, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)

FILE - British driver Andy Green, right, is congratulated by a crew member after setting a new unofficial world diesel powered land speed record of over 328 mph over two runs on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah on Tuesday, Aug. 2006. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac, File)

The JCB Hydromax sits on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Wendover, Utah, where Andy Green aims to drive it to a land speed record for cars powered by hydrogen internal combustion engines, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)