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Lemaitre completes European sprint double
French sensation Christophe Lemaitre completed the sprint double at the European Championships in Barcelona, Spain, on Friday by powering to victory inthe 200me just two days after his 100m triumph.
With success in the shorter distance already under his belt, the 200m had appeared the easier event for the 20-year-old, who has shown no fear in Barcelona.
On paper Jaysuma Saidy Ndure of Norway was his closest rival, but British veteran Christian Malcom had a special run, leading right up to the line and finishing just a 100th of a second behind Lemaitre.
It had looked as though the Frenchman was too far behind but he stormed to the finish line to catch the tiring Malcolm.
"It was a very tight race. My start was not as good as I hoped and I had doubts in the middle of the race so I just tried to pick up well in the final metres," said Lemaitre, who clocked 20.37sec.
Malcolm added: "I didn't see Lemaitre and I didn't even hear him come. I didn't dip for the line because I really thought I had got it. Still, I am happy with the silver."
Belgium's Kevin Borlee took gold in the 400m in a season-best time of 45.08, with British pair Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney taking silver and bronze respectively.
There was a Russian clean sweep in the women's 400m final, with Tatyana Firova coming first in 49.89, the fastest time in Europe this season.
The Russians have an embarrassment of riches at this distance and Kseniya Ustalova, who had the previous fastest time, took silver with a personal best. World bronze medallist Antonina Krivoshapka came third.
Britain's Andy Turner took advantage of a stumble from the fastest European this year, Czech Petr Svoboda, to win the 110m hurdles.
Turner came through with a season's best time of 13.28sec to earn gold, while Garfield Darien, of France, and Daniel Kiss of Hungary, took silver and bronze respectively.
Russian Mariya Savinova landed her first major outdoor title as she cruised to victory in the women's 800m final.
Having registered the fastest time in the world this season, Savinova came into the competition as the star performer and she won gold with a time of 1min 58.22sec.
The Netherlands' Yvonne Hak, who has come to the fore this year, took silver and bronze went to Jennifer Meadows.
In what was built up as a battle between Spain and Britain in the men's 1 500m, it was the host country that came out on top with double medal winners.
Gold went to Arturo Casado and Manuel Olmedo took bronze, while Carsten Schlangen won silver. Britain's best-placed finisher was Andy Baddeley down in sixth.
In-form Russian Natalya Antyukh set a new championship record in the women's 400m hurdles as she stormed home in a time of 52.92.
Vania Stambolova took silver and Britain's Perri Shakes-Drayton won bronze with a personal best.
Russian Svetlana Feofanova leapt to a height of 4.75m to take gold in the women's pole vault.
In the absence of her compatriot Yelena Isinbayeva, Feofanova was the athlete to beat and she was the worthy winner. In silver came Germany's Silke Spiegelburg and Lisa Ryzih took bronze.
The ever-consistent Betty Heidler, of Germany, who took silver at the world championships, won gold in the hammer.
Silver went to defending champion Tatyana Lysenko, of Russia, and Poland's Anita Wlodarczyk claimed bronze.
The stage was set for Spain's Marta Dominguez, the world champion at the 3 000m steeple chase, and favourite in Barcelona to take gold on home soil but it was not to be.
She was involved in a battle to the end with Yuliya Zarudneva but the Russian, who took silver in the world championships, got revenge with first place. Fellow Russian Lyubov Kharlamova took bronze.
RESULTS
200m Final
1, Christophe Lemaitre, France, 20.37. 2, Christian Malcolm,
Britain, 20.38. 3, Martial Mbandjock, France, 20.62. 4, Marlon
Devonish, Britain, 20.62. 5, Jaysuma Saidy Ndure, Norway, 20.63. 6,
Paul Hession, Ireland, 20.71. 7, Likourgos-Stefanos Tsakonas,
Greece, 20.90. 8, David Alerte, France, 1:27.24.
110 Hurdles Final
1, Andy Turner, Britain, 13.28 seconds. 2, Garfield Darien,
France, 13.34. 3, Daniel Kiss, Hungary, 13.39. 4, Dimitri Bascou,
France, 13.41. 5, Artur Noga, Poland, 13.44. 6, Petr Svoboda, Czech
Republic, 13.57. 7, Marcel van der Westen, Netherlands, 13.58. 8,
Alexander John, Germany, 13.71.
Men 50-kilometer Walk Final
1, Yohann Diniz, France, 3 hours 40 minutes and 37 seconds. 2,
Grzegorz Sudol, Poland, 3:42.24. 3, Sergey Bakulin, Russia,
3:43.24. 4, Robert Hefferman, Ireland, 3:45.30. 5, Jesus Angel
Garcia, Spain, 3:47.56. 6, Marco De Luca, Italy, 3:48.36. 7, Andre
Hohne, Germany, 3:49.29. 8, Lukasz Nowak, Poland, 3:51. 9, Tadas
Suskevicius, Lithuania, 3:52.31. 10, Yuriy Andronov, Russia,
3:54.22. 11, Colin Griffin, Ireland, 3:57.58. 12, Andreas
Gustaffson, Sweden, 3:58.02. 13, Dusan Majdan, Slovakia, 4:00.51.
14, Augusto Cardoso, Portugal, 4:03.40. 15, Predrag Flipovic,
Serbia, 4:06.29. Milos Batovsky, Serbia, DNF. Artur Brzozowski,
Poland, DNF. Serhiy Budza, Ukraine, DNF. Jarkko Kinnunen, Finland,
DNF. Sergey Kirdyapkin, Russia, DNF. Andriy Kovenko, Ukraine, DNF.
Christopher Linke, Germany, DNF. Trond Nymark, Norway, DNF. Mikel
Odriozola, Spain, DNF. Antonio Pereira, Portugal, DNF. Alex
Schwarzer, Italy, DNF. Donatas Skarnulis, Lithuania, DQ.
Women
400 Final
1, Tatyana Firova, Russia, 49.89 seconds. 2, Kseniya Ustalova,
Russia, 49.92. 3, Antonina Krivoshapka, Russia, 50.10. 4, Libania
Grenot, Italy, 50.43. 5, Denisa Rosolova, Czech Republic, 50.90. 6,
Antonina Yefremova, Ukraine, 51.67. 7, Marta Milani, Italy, 51.87.
8, Muriel Hurtis-Houairi, France, 52.05.
