The Italian national athletics team closed the opening night of the Taranto 2026 Mediterranean Games with a haul of seven medals (two gold, four silver, and one bronze). With four days of competition remaining, the Italian team has now won 49 gold medals, narrowly surpassing the last edition in Oran 2022 and equaling that of Split 1979. It also surpassed Casablanca 1983 (142) in medals. Taranto 2026 has therefore entered the top 10 of the best Italian editions ever in terms of total medals. At the 'Giuseppe Valente' Stadium, the first sign of Italy's success came from Sonia Malavisi, who won bronze in the women's pole vault with 4.45m, behind Slovenia's Tina Sutej (gold with 4.60m).