Cuban-born Spanish triple jumper Jordan Diaz Fortun produced a spectacular performance to win triple jump gold on day five at the European Championships in Rome on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old, who switched allegiance from Cuba to Spain in November 2022, produced a championship record and world-leading 18.18m to take gold ahead of Portugal’s Pedro Pablo Pichardo and France’s Thomas Gogois.

Diaz Fortun led the competition after the first round with a 17.56m jump before Pichardo, who also switched allegiance from Cuba in 2017, produced the world’s first 18m jump since 2021 with 18.04m to take the lead in the second round.

The Spaniard’s next two efforts were 17.82m in the second round and 17.96m in the fourth round after a third-round foul, finding himself just short of Pichardo’s mark heading into round five.

In that fifth round, he produced what is now the third-longest triple jump of all time with a breathtaking 18.18m, only trailing Christian Taylor’s 18.21m and Jonathan Edwards’s world record 18.29m.

Diaz Fortun’s jump also established a new European Championship record, eclipsing Edwards’s 17.99m set back in 1998.

Pichardo’s next three best jumps after his monstrous 18.04m in round two were 17.55m in round three, 17.47m in round five and 17.92m in round six.

Gogois produced a personal best 17.38m in the sixth round to secure the bronze medal.