With the medals awarded on the final day of the Mediterranean Games, the medal table was finalized. Italy topped the table with 13 gold medals, as expected, while Morocco, the medal leader in 2018, enjoyed a successful Games and secured second place.
Yassine Hssine, who won a historic gold for Morocco in the 100 meters, also took victory in the 200 meters, repeating the double achieved by Slovenia’s Matic Osovnikar in 2005. In the 400-meter hurdles, Ismail Manyani overtook Turkey’s two strong title contenders in the final 50 meters to claim the championship. In the 3000-meter steeplechase final, Salaheddine Ben Yazide and Mohamed Tindouft secured the top two places for Morocco.
Three relay races were held at the close of the track events. Italy won the inaugural mixed 4x100-meter relay and the women’s 4x400-meter relay, while Turkey topped the men’s 4x400 meters with a Games record. Running in their second race of the day, Ismail Nezir and Berke Akçam helped the Turkish team cross the finish line in 3:02.02, breaking both the Games record, which had stood since 1997, and the Turkish national record.
Algeria’s star triple jumper Yasser Triki was another athlete to leave the Games with a gold medal. Triki jumped 16.61 meters on his first attempt and 16.97 on his second. Although he did not take his remaining four attempts, he won the title by a margin of 81 centimetres. With this victory, Triki claimed his third consecutive medal in the triple jump at the Mediterranean Games.
In the hammer throw, Italy’s Sara Fantini won with a throw of 73.03 meters, while defending champion Laura Redondo of Spain finished second with 67.82 meters.
The final medals of the Games were awarded in the half-marathon races. Held on the morning of Thursday, September 3, in temperatures of 31°C (88°F), the races produced two Games records. Turkey’s former European Indoor champion distance runner Ali Kaya won the men’s race in 1:02:06, improving the previous Games record by two minutes. In the women’s race, Fatima Zahra Birdaha, the 5000-meter champion, claimed her second victory in five days. Birdaha won gold in 1:09:59 ahead of Slovenia’s Klara Lukan, the European 10K record holder, while also setting a new Mediterranean Games record.
At Taranto 2026, where Games records were broken in 12 events across 12 disciplines over five days, 12 countries produced champions. Spain, Greece, and Egypt, meanwhile, finished the athletics competition without a gold medal.
