Britain’s Lina Nielsen finished seventh in the women’s 400m hurdles final in 55.65secs, as Dutch star Femke Bol improved her own championship record to win her fourth European title in 52.49secs.

The 28-year-old was contesting her first major final after a distressing week, with twin sister Laviai revealing in an emotional interview following her 400m final on Monday that their coach, Tony Lester, recently suffered a cardiac arrest.

Nielsen said: “I’ve learned a lot from that first major final experience. I think that those medals are in my reach so I’m very disappointed.

“I would have liked to have made Tony proud today. I know I could have snuck into the medals but I can’t dwell on it too much, we have the Olympics coming up so everything is working towards that.”

There was also a championship record for Norway’s Olympic and three-time world champion Karsten Warholm in the men’s 400m hurdles final.

Warholm, world record holder in the event, clocked 46.98secs to win his third successive European title.

Despite disappointing crowds over the opening five days of competition, the stands behind the high jump were packed in anticipation of Italian star Gianmarco Tamberi’s bid for gold on home soil.

The hugely popular Olympic and world champion, who shaves half his beard for major finals, was the only athlete to clear 2.31m.

But he continued to entertain the captivated crowd with a further first-time clearances at 2.34m and 2.37m, before joining them – and the Italian President Sergio Mattarella – in brilliant celebrations.

In a high-quality men’s triple jump final, Portugal’s Olympic champion Pedro Pichardo was denied gold despite breaking Jonathan Edwards’ 26-year championship record with a 18.04m leap, as Spain’s Jordan Diaz Fortun bettered that with a title-winning 18.18m.

Elsewhere, Estonian Johannes Erm won the men’s decathlon by 129 points with a total of 8,764. while Austria’s Victoria Hudson won women’s javelin gold with a best throw measuring 64.62m.

Earlier on Tuesday, defending champion Keely Hodgkinson cruised through the fastest women’s 800m semi-final in European Championships history.