Christophe Lemaitre’s fairytale European championships continued when he completed a sprint double on Friday and the Olympic Stadium finally came to life as the hosts celebrated their first medals.
Spain had to wait a little bit longer than anticipated for their first gold of the championships when Russian Yuliya Zarudneva spoiled the script by beating world champion and home favorite Marta Dominguez in the steeplechase final.
Zarudneva went to the front from the gun with Dominguez, wearing her trademark pink headband with matching running shoes, shadowing her.
The noise from the half-full stadium was deafening as the crowd urged Dominguez to victory, but the world silver medalist gained revenge for her defeat in Berlin last year, pulling clear off the final water jump to win in 9 minutes, 17.57 seconds.
The Spanish flag-waving and cheering was finally rewarded in the last race of the evening when an astonished Arturo Casado finished strongly to take the 1,500m title in 3 minutes, 42.74 seconds.
Manuel Olmedo took bronze, with Germany’s Carsten Schlangen splitting the two Spaniards.
“I can’t believe it yet, I’m the European champion at home,” Casado, 27, said. “I just listened to the crowd and looked straight ahead. At no point did I want to look back.”
Lemaitre appeared to be staring defeat in the face after a poor start in the 200m left him out of the medal places and some 5m behind Britain’s Christian Malcolm going into the straight, but the 100m champion produced an astonishing late burst of speed and, with a roar, lunged past a surprised Malcolm to snatch victory by 0.01 seconds in 20.37 seconds and become the first Frenchman to do the European sprint double.
“I gambled everything on the final stretch. It was really difficult because technically I was not that good,” the 20-year-old told French television. “I fought until the end.”
Russia’s women enjoyed a golden fiesta with five victories, including a sweep of the 400m medals.
Tatyana Firova led her compatriots home in the one-lap sprint, edging out Kseniya Ustalova to win in 49.89 seconds. European indoor champion Antonina Krivoshapka completed the trio.
Russian pole vaulter Svetlana Feofanova secured her second European title, eight years after her first with a clearance of 4.75m.
In a competition missing Russia’s Olympic champion and world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva, who decided to skip the outdoor season, and injured world champion Anna Rogowska, Germany’s Silke Spiegelburg took silver with 4.65m on count back from compatriot Lisa Ryzih.
There was a championship record of 52.92 seconds for Natalya Antyukh in the 400m hurdles. Antyukh finished almost a second ahead of Bulgaria’s Vania Stambolova, with Perri Shakes-Drayton of Britain taking bronze.
Mariya Savinova completed the day’s gold medal haul for Russia in the 800m, where she beat Yvonne Hak of the Netherlands and Britain’s Jenny Meadows.
However, the Russians did not have it all their own way when Tatyana Lysenko was beaten into second by Germany’s Betty Heidler, who hauled the hammer out to 76.38m on her fifth throw after the defending hammer champion had led from the first round. Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk was third.
The “wrong” Borlee brother won the men’s 400m title when Kevin upset the form book to beat his twin and race favorite Jonathan to gold.
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