France’s Christophe Lemaitre set a new national record as he won the 100m in 9.95 seconds on the first day of the European Team Championships on Saturday.
The 21-year-old Lemaitre led from the start to beat last year’s winner Dwain Chambers of Britain and set the fastest time by a European since Portugal’s Francis Obikwelu ran a European record 9.86 seconds in 2004.
In the women’s 100m, Veronique Mang earned a double for France as she held off Ukraine’s Olesya Povh to win in 11.23 seconds.
Photo: AFP
Aleksandr Menkov was one of five Russian winners, taking the men’s long jump with a championship record leap of 8.2m. Teammate Maksim Dyldin won the 400m in 45.82 seconds, while Olesya Syreva took the women’s 3,000m in 8:53.2, Gulnara Galkina won the 3,000m steeplechase in 9:31.20, and Mariya Savinova claimed the 800m in 1:58.75.
Last year’s champion Russia has 213 points and leads the competition with one day remaining, ahead of Germany with 183.5 and Britain with 166.
Britain’s David Greene took the 400m hurdles in 49.21 seconds to break Russia’s early dominance on the track on a sunny day in the Swedish capital. The British team claimed another win in the last event of the day, winning the men’s 4x100m in 38.60 seconds.
David Storl gave Germany an early 12 points with a throw of 20.81m in the shot put, while Betty Heidler reached 73.43m to win the women’s hammer throw, and another German, Christina Obergfoell, took the women’s javelin with a world-leading 66.22m.
In the pole vault, Anna Rogowska of Poland beat Germany’s Silke Spiegelburg as both nailed jumps of 4.75m, the best in the world this year.
Another milestone was reached in the women’s 400m hurdles, with Zuzana Hejnova of the Czech Republic racing clear of the field to win in a national record 53.87 seconds.
In the men’s 1,500m, Spain’s Manuel Olmedo held off Valentin Smirnov of Russia to win in 3:38.63, while countryman Jesus Espana won the men’s 5,000m in 13:39.25.
Ukraine got its first 12 points when Antonina Yefremova won the women’s 400m in 51.02 seconds, before the country took three rapid-fire wins in field events — Dmytro Demyanyuk won the men’s high jump with a the year’s leap of 2.35m, Olha Saladuha jumped 14.85m to win the women’s triple jump and Dmytro Kosynskyy took the men’s javelin with a throw of 81.29m.
The fourth-placed Ukrainian team rounded off its whirlwind end to day one with victory in the women’s 4x100m relay in 42.85 seconds.
The European Team Championships meet is the successor to the European Cup, with one athlete from each of Europe’s 12 top-performing countries competing in each of the 20 men’s events and 20 women’s events.
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS