Miltiadis Tentoglou added a fourth consecutive outdoor European long jump title to his collection on Tuesday, overcoming headwinds at Alexander Stadium to win with 8.44m.

The Olympic and world champion, who has now won every European title on offer – outdoor, indoor and team championships – since his breakthrough as a 20-year-old in Berlin in 2018, was never seriously troubled even though conditions made anything close to his season's best of 8.66m impossible.

This was one of the most highly anticipated finals of the championships and didn't disappoint either despite the absence of Mattia Furlani, Italy's reigning world champion, due to injury in qualifying on Monday.

Every one of Tentoglou's six attempts was into a headwind, with his winning leap coming into -1.1m/sec and only the 28-year-old's second-round no-jump prevented a series that would have won multiple other finals on its own. Three of his other four valid jumps were also good enough to have taken gold.

Switzerland's Simon Ehammer, the world indoor pentathlon champion turned long jump threat, soared out to 8.29m into a considerably stiffer -2.7m/sec breeze for silver. Bulgaria's Bozhidar Saraboyukov took bronze with 8.26m, continuing an encouraging breakthrough season for the 22-year-old and giving Bulgaria a rare medal in a horizontal jump at this level.

Portugal's Gerson Baldé (8.18m) and Serbia's Luka Boškovic (8.08m) rounded out the top five, while home qualifying leader Francesco Ettore Inzoli of Italy could not find the same touch in the final and slipped to sixth with 8.04m.

Tentoglou said: "This was one of the hardest finals I have ever done. I am good in all conditions but this wind was so hard on us long jumpers. It was changing all the time and always negative.

"Ehammer is a very strong guy and he was kind of okay with it. But for the other jumpers and me, it was incredibly difficult. I had to try so hard for this 8.44m jump. It is nothing for me usually but today it was so hard to do.

"This was not just a regular 8.40m jump for me. It was big jump. So I appreciate it a lot. This is one of my most precious victories because it is also a complex season for me. This is the start of winning golds again."

Britain's Archie Yeo made the final but could not find his best jump when it mattered, finishing 12th with 7.48m.

“Obviously, a little bit disappointed with my performance. But I'm more proud of how me and my team have got me back here and then making a jump of eight metres for the first time the season," said Yeo.

Tentoglou's win continues a run that now stretches back eight years without a European outdoor defeat in this event, a period in which he has also collected two Olympic golds and a world title.

With the conditions working against everybody in the competition, in front of a 16,000-plus crowd, it was his relentless consistency – three jumps beyond 8.20m in a series where nobody else managed more than one or two – that separated him from the field once again.

Men's long jump: 1 Miltiadis Tentoglou (GRE) 8.44 (-1.1); 2 Simon Ehammer (SUI) 8.29 (-2.7); 3 Bozhidar Saraboyukov (BUL) 8.26 (-1.7); 4 Gerson Baldé (POR) 8.18 (-0.3); 5 Luka Boškovic (SRB) 8.08 (-1.4); 6 Francesco Ettore Inzoli (ITA) 8.04 (-1.5); 7 Eusebio Cáceres (ESP) 7.92 (-0.6); 8 Petr Meindlschmid (CZE) 7.81 (-1.3); … 12 Archie Yeo (GBR) 7.48 (-1.8)