Sergey Shubenkov may have narrowly missed out on regaining the European title in Berlin last month but he is ending the season in winning fashion.
Forty-eight hours after victory in the 110m hurdles at the Diamond League final in Brussels, he was back starring again, this time at the 32nd Citta di Padova, the last European Athletics Outdoor Classic Meeting of the season.
Shubenkov triumphed in Padua on Sunday (2) in a meeting record of 13.09 from South Africa’s Antonio Alkana in 13.50 and Italy’s Hassane Fofana in 13.56.
The 2013 world champion, who has broken the 13 second-barrier four times this season and also holds the world lead at 12.92, will compete again in Zagreb on Tuesday ahead of the Continental Cup in Ostrava next weekend where he will aim for victory as part of Team Europe.
Shubenkov, 27, was beaten in Berlin by the slightest of margins - 0.002, in fact - as he took silver with France’s Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, 26, winning gold. Martinot-Lagarde will join Shubenkov on Team Europe in Ostrava next weekend.
And among the European team will be two of Shubenkov’s teammates who also triumphed in Padova.
European high jump champion Mariya Lasitskene won again but only on countback. She won from Ukraine’s Kateryna Tabashnyk as they both cleared 1.95m with another Ukrainian - Yulia Levchenko, the world silver medallist - third with 1.91m.
And in the pole vault, there was a meeting record for 2014 European champion Anzhelika Sidorova as she went over at 4.75m to beat Belarusian Iryna Zhuk on 4.50m and Venezuelan Robeilys Peinado on 4.40m.
European 800m champion Nataliya Pryshchepa once more showed her fine form as she won in 2:00.37 ahead of Latvia’s Liga Velvere in 2:00.91 while in the 100m hurdles, Hanna Plotitsyna made it a Ukrainian double as she won in 13.13 from Italy’s Luminosa Bogliolo in 13.25.
Türkiye’s European silver medalist Yasmani Copello showed all his power with a strong finish to beat Jamaican champion Annsert Whyte in the 400m hurdles, 49.09 to 49.16 as Spain’s Alvaro de Arriba won the men’s 800m in 1:45.47.
There was home success in the men’s 400m as Davide Re won in 45.63 and Belarus’ European bronze medallist Aliona Dubitskaya won the women’s shot put with a best of 18.91m.