BRITAIN’S Phillips Idowu is already targeting the one gold medal missing from his collection after claiming the European title with a superb performance in Barcelona.

Idowu set a personal best of 17.81 metres in the triple jump final to beat Romania’s Marian Oprea and France’s Teddy Tamgho to the title on a rainswept night in the Olympic Stadium.

The 31-year-old is now the reigning World, European and Commonwealth champion, with Portugal’s Nelson Evora only denying him the Olympic title in Beijing in 2008 by five centimetres.

And the Londoner admitted the Olympics in his home city in 2012 are now foremost in his mind.

‘‘There’s one more medal in my career I need to win and that’s in a couple of years’ time,’’ he said. ‘‘I just want to get home to my babies and my family. My job in Barcelona is done.

‘‘I came here to win the medal, I won the medal and now I want to go home and celebrate and look forward to the end of the season and preparation towards 2012.’’ Idowu led from start to finish with jumps of 17.46m, 17.47m and 17.40m followed by 17.81m in the fourth round, eclipsing his previous personal best of 17.73m set in winning the world title in Berlin last year.

Tamgho was expected to be the major threat after jumping a world-leading 17.98m in New York in June, but the 21- year-old had to settle for bronze with a best of 17.45m, Oprea taking a surprise silver with 17.51m in the fifth round.

‘‘It’s been tough all year but me and my coach (Aston Moore) got it right,’’ Idowu added. ‘‘We put it together, we planned for this day. So all the meetings from May until here didn’t matter.

‘‘I’ve suffered a lot of defeats and I’m sure the press and media thought I didn’t have it in me, but I had to take knocks and be strong-minded.

‘‘I just seem to come into these championships and do what I do. I work hard, I always work hard, and by the grace of God I come out as a gold medallist. It’s amazing.’’ Asked about his personal best, Idowu said: ‘‘I knew I had to do that. I knew back in March (at the world indoors in Doha) with the way Teddy was jumping it would need a PB, a big jump to win.’’ A disappointed Tamgho said: ‘‘I’m not satisfied with my performance at all.”

Elsewhere Dai Greene and Rhys Williams advanced to the 400m hurdles final and Christian Malcolm and Marlon Devonish reaching the 200m final.

Mo Farah and Chris Thompson, first and second in the 10,000m on Tuesday, also eased into tomorrow’s final of the 5,000m to keep alive their dreams of a long-distance double.

Michael Rimmer also looked a genuine gold medal contender in winning his 800m semi-final.