Mediterranean Games Taranto 2026: dates, sports and the complete guide

The Games diary, day by day

Thursday 3 September, the closing — The final day opened with the two half marathons. Turkey’s Ali Kaya won the men’s race in 1:02:06, breaking away at the eighth kilometre, ahead of Algeria’s Mohammed Sief Boukartaba and his compatriot Ramazan Bastug. In the women’s race Morocco’s Fatima Ezzahra Birdaha won in 1:09:59 with a Games record, her second title after the 5000 metres. In the afternoon the last gold of the Games went to water polo: Italy beat Montenegro 18-14, the Italian team’s seventh title in the sport at the Mediterranean Games and its first in thirty-three years, since the 1993 edition in Languedoc-Roussillon. In the evening, the closing ceremony at the Stadio Iacovone.

Thursday 3 September — Wednesday was the busiest day of the Games, with athletics alone awarding fourteen titles. Italy took the hammer through Sara Fantini (73.03 m), the women’s 200 m through Vittoria Fontana (22.93) and the 400 m hurdles through Ayomide Folorunso (54.22), as well as both relays; France’s Mathieu Collet won the pole vault and Lucie Schoonheere the women’s street skateboarding, ahead of two Italians. Greece’s Danai Pontifix took the women’s iQFOiL sailing title and Egypt’s Hana Goda the women’s table tennis singles. Today, Thursday, is the final day: the two half marathons start together at 8.30am, the men’s water polo finals run from 9am with Italy meeting Montenegro for gold at 1.30pm, and the closing ceremony takes place at the Stadio Iacovone in the evening.

Wednesday 2 September — Tuesday belonged to Gianmarco Tamberi, who won the high jump gold with 2.25 m ahead of Greece’s Antonios Merlos, with teammate Christian Falocchi taking bronze. Italy also topped the podium in the women’s triple jump through Erika Saraceni (14.21 m, ahead of Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic) and in the men’s shot put with Nicholas Ponzio (21.21 m); the women’s handball team beat Tunisia 25-23 for gold, while in karate Egypt’s Feryal Abdelaziz beat Italy’s Silvia Semeraro in the 68 kg final. Today, Wednesday, is the last full day of competition — tomorrow brings only water polo and the closing ceremony — and it is also the busiest of the whole fortnight: forty-five titles across eight sports, with athletics awarding fourteen between 5.15pm and 8.25pm (hammer, 200 m, pole vault, relays), artistic gymnastics closing its programme with ten apparatus finals from 10.30am, and rowing handing out its last medals in the morning.

Tuesday 1 September — Monday delivered a French one-three in the men’s 110 m hurdles: Erwann Cinna took gold in 13.22, ahead of Cyprus’s Trajkovic, with teammate Thomas Wilkes in bronze; in the women’s 100 m hurdles Italy’s Celeste Polzonetti and Elena Carraro went one-two, with France’s Sacha Alessandrini third. Italy also took gold in tennis with Noemi Basiletti, in the women’s 10,000 m with Federica Del Buono and in the men’s 4×100 m relay, but lost the women’s football final 4-0 to Portugal. Today, Tuesday, belongs to Gianmarco Tamberi, in the high jump final at 6.55pm, alongside rowing, women’s artistic gymnastics, karate and weightlifting.

Monday 31 August — Sunday ended with a tennis gold for the hosts: Vittoria Paganetti and Filippo Romano beat Spain’s Cortez Llorca and Sanchez Quilez 6-4, 6-2 in the mixed doubles, while the Italian pair in the women’s doubles took silver behind Greece. On the track Sacha Alessandrini of France won the 100 m hurdles in 13.17, and in the football final Algeria beat Tunisia 2-0 for the men’s title. Today, Monday, twenty-four titles are decided across eight sports, eleven of them in athletics: the women’s 800 m at 6.45pm, the men’s at 7pm, the women’s 10,000 m at 7.15pm and then the two 4×100 m relays, women at 8pm and men at 8.15pm. Add six weightlifting titles, the men’s artistic gymnastics team final at 2pm in Grottaglie, both tennis singles finals and the women’s football final, Portugal against Italy, at 7pm.

Sunday 30 August — Sunday belonged to the track. The athletics programme opened with two Italian golds — Francesco Inzoli in the long jump (8.19 m) and Giovanni Frattini in the javelin (81.59 m) — while France’s Gémima Joseph took the women’s 100 metres. Italy also won the women’s artistic gymnastics team title ahead of Spain, and the judo team event 4-1 against France. The volleyball finals split the honours: Turkey beat Italy 3-0 for the women’s gold, France beat Greece 3-0 for the men’s, with Italy taking bronze at the tie-break. In the football third-place match Morocco won 4-1, leaving Italy fourth.

Saturday 29 August — Friday night belonged to the volleyball court: Italy beat France 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-23) to finish the preliminary round unbeaten, five wins out of five. Today, Saturday, eleven titles are decided: seven in judo, the women’s 10 m air pistol, the two individual triathlon races — men at 4.45pm, women at 6.30pm — and the mixed doubles in table tennis, with the team semi-finals running through the afternoon.

Friday 28 August — Boxing handed out all fourteen of its titles in one day, and Italy took three of the four women’s golds — Irma Testa beating France’s Amina Zidani in the 57 kg final on her return after a two-year break, with Sirine Charaabi (54 kg) and Melissa Gemini (75 kg) also on top of the podium. Finswimming added four more Italian golds, led by Lorenzo Caronno‘s games record in the 200 m surface. Today, Friday, the second weekend opened with the first finals in judo, archery, padel and table tennis: Italy’s Danilo Dennis Sollazzo won the 10 m air rifle ahead of Croatia’s Maricic, and Francesco Gregori took silver in the individual recurve after beating Turkey’s Gazoz on his way to the final, while the Italian squads finished just off the podium in all three team events. In the football semi-final Tunisia came from behind to beat Italy 3-1 and reach the final.

Thursday 27 August — The day of the boxing finals: all fourteen titles are decided in one go, seven bouts at 1 pm and seven at 5. From 6 pm finswimming puts nine more finals up for grabs, and the afternoon adds the mixed-team trap and the 10 m air pistol — twenty-five titles in all. In the evening Italy’s handball team face Egypt and the women’s football team meet Morocco.

Wednesday 26 August — The pool changed trade: with the swimming over, finswimming handed out its first finals — Italian golds for Viola Magoga and Filippo Pavoni, a Greek win for Ifigeneia Teliousi in the 200 m surface. Fabio Caponio took the badminton men’s singles for Italy, beating Croatia’s Aria Dinata in two tight sets; Turkey’s Hatice Gökçe Emir won the rhythmic gymnastics all-around and Spain’s Andrés García García the men’s trap.

Tuesday 25 August — The last night in the pool, and the swimming programme closed with an Italian on the podium in thirty-four of its thirty-five finals. Alberto Razzetti took the 200 butterfly in 1:55.29, a Games record and his third individual title of the week, with further wins for Spediacci, Franceschi, Guatti, Borrelli and Diodato. In the bowls Laura Picchio completed a raffa double — the singles, then the pairs with Kety Crescenzi — while Diego Rizzi won the pétanque precision shooting. Laura Godino took the women’s 68 kg in wrestling, and at Francavilla Fontana the Italian women’s football team were pegged back by Slovenia, 1-1.

Monday 24 August — Road cycling day, and Italy won both road races along the Taranto seafront. In the women’s race the home team took all three medals — Rachele Barbieri ahead of Martina Fidanza and Barbara Guarischi — while Tommaso Dati won the men’s title in a sprint against Portugal’s Gomes Antunes. In the pool the titles went to Noemi Cesarano, Lisa Angiolini, Alberto Razzetti and Giada Alzetta; the fencing programme closed with Egypt taking both foil golds.

Sunday 23 August — The busiest day of the programme, with thirty titles across thirteen sports. Italy kept winning: Luca De Tullio in the 800 m freestyle and Samuele Veglianti in the 1000 m sprint canoe, alongside more podiums in fencing and swimming.

Saturday 22 August — The first titles, and Italy did all of it in the pool: thirteen medals, every one in swimming. The three golds went to Benedetta Pilato in the 100 m breaststroke — a Taranto native winning at home, ahead of her compatriot Lisa Angiolini — to Gabriele Mancini in the men’s 100 m breaststroke and to Noemi Cesarano in the 1500 m freestyle.

Friday 21 August — The Games opened at the Erasmo Iacovone stadium, with a two-hour show directed by Angelo Bonello and seventy performers. Italian President Mattarella declared the 20th edition officially open, in front of more than 3,800 athletes from 26 countries. Italy’s 497-strong team paraded behind Irma Testa and Filippo Tortu.