European Athletics – (EA) – News – Britons scoop gold and silver

It was a fine British one-two as Adam Gemili and Deji Tobais scooped 100m gold and silver with the Netherlands Hensley Paulina grabbing a surprise bronze in a lifetime best at the Tampere 2013 European Athletics U23 Championships on Friday evening.

Gemili looked disappointed to have only clocked 10.20, but he had fulfilled his target of the season to come here to Tampere and win gold. In second Tobais made a concerted attempt to surprise Gemili but in the end he finished 0.09 down.

Paulina just hung on for bronze by the slenderest of margins of 0.01 but his 10.48 broke new ground for him.

“The final was weird race,” admitted Gemili. “The time was not spectacularly quick, but a gold medal is a gold medal so I am happy with that. I was behind at the start and I just had to stay calm and execute the rest of the race.”

Russians claim two medals

In the 400m final Lev Mosin of Russia ran a terrific final bend to sweep to gold in a lifetime best 45.51.

As they entered the back straight it was team-mate, Nikita Uglov, who was marginally in the lead, but there was no withstanding Mosin’s powerful surge.

The Ukraine’s Vitaliy Butrym fought his way to silver in a career best 45.88 while Uglov just held on by 0.01 for bronze from Dutchman Bram Peters.

The Bosse imposes his rule
He was not going to make the same mistake twice. In his 800m heat Pierre-Ambroise Bosse had taken things a little too easy and qualified only in second place.

For the final he made the first 400m much faster and this time there was clear water between him and the chasing pack all the way to the line.

Passing the bell in 51.75, slowly but surely the Frenchman turned the screw to move inexorably away from his rivals to collect gold in 1:45.79.

That time was not far short of the championship record of Germany’s Nils Schumann of 1:45.21 set in 1999.

Silver went to the man who surprised Bosse in his heat, Taras Bybeck of the Ukraine in a lifetime best 1:46.20.

There was another surprise in bronze as Amel Tuka of Bosnia Herzegovina came through to snatch third in a national record 1:46.29.

Bosnia Herzegovina have only been competing at these championships since 2001 and this represents their first ever medal at this level.

Cáceres imperious
A breathtaking personal best by Eusebio Cáceres of Spain of 8.37, a full 10cm further than what he achieved in the Barcelona European championships three years ago, saw him take Long Jump gold in imperious style.

Silver went to Sergey Morgunov’s last effort of the evening of 8.01m while bronze was clinched by fellow-Russian, Kirill Sukharev.

Morgunov went into an early lead jumping exactly 8m in round one. But after a huge jump by Caceres that was adjudged a foul, it was clear that Morgunov might have trouble holding on to first position.

And so it proved as the Spaniard got it right in round two to go into the lead with 8.08. Taking off 15cm behind the board, Caceres even managed to look to his right to see more or less where he was going to land.

His initial gesture was one of disappointment that he had not gone further, but he then relented, giving a cheerful thumbs-up for the camera.

A pumped up Caceres then tried too hard in the next round, improving his lead by 1cm instead of doing what he clearly wanted to do by approaching the distance he had fouled at in the first round.

Round four was when he really got it right, sailing out to 8.37 to improve countryman Yago Lamela’s championship record from 1999 by 1cm.

Sirmais the gatecrasher
Latvia’s Zigismunds Sirmais took his country’s first gold at this event after winning silver and bronze in previous editions.

His decisive effort of 82.77 came in round three after a modest 70.51 and a foul. Silver and bronze went to the German duo of Bernard Seifert and Thomas Roehler.

Seifert and Roehler seemed determined to mint the Javelin medals between the two of them and they set to with a will.

Roehler drew first blood with 81.74 in round one, but Seifert trumped that with 82.42 in round two. Sirmais however had other plans and in round three he released a season’s best 82.77 to gatecrash the German spear-fest.

Kazmirek is king
There were nine PBs in the Decathlon, but the one that really mattered belonged to Germany’s Kai Kazmirek who amassed 8366 to collect gold. Silver went to Ilya Shkurenyov who fought back after falling into the bronze medal position after the Javelin and bronze was clinched by the Czech Republic’s Adam Helcelet.

There were PBs galore in the Pole Vault as no fewer than 12 men either set or equalled their bests to date. More importantly, Kazmirek continued to fight off Shkurenyov’s challenge by matching him height for height, leaving his best at 5.20 before retiring after a first failure at 5.30. Helcelet also set new figures of 5m.

The Javelin proved decisive for Helcelet as his 64.89PB took him past the Russian and into silver. Shrurenyov could do no better than 56.76, a season’s best but silver had slipped from his grasp.

With the 1500m still to come there was still hope for the Russian since he only trailed by 5points. And that hope was realised as he managed 4:33.03 to the Czech’s 4:37.93.

Schippers in gold
In the third fastest time of her career of 11.13, Dafne Schippers of the Netherlands took gold as expected from a resurgent Jodie Williams Of Great Britain who collected silver in 11.42 with Germany’s Tatjana Lofamakanda Pinto third 0.08 back.

Schippers was in lane four with Williams on her left and Pinto on her right. They got away cleanly at the first time of asking and at first Williams put up a determined resistance, but the Dutch woman was too strong for her over the second half and crossed the line two metres clear with the Briton safe in silver.

Running into a slight headwind William’s time was a tenth of a second off her fastest of the season.

Tenacious Lavric
A battling last 100m by Mirela Lavric of Romania saw her take gold in 2:01.56 from the Ukraine’s Olha Lyakhova and Switzerland’s Selina Buechel.The field bunched after 200m and it seemed inevitable that someone would fall as Poland’s Joanna Jozwik hit the ground heavily. Up front Lyakhova was making the pace and was clearly determined to front run her way to victory as she had done in her heat. Passing the bell in 62.65 Lyakhova was still in the lead with Lavric on her shoulder poised to make her bid. Round the final turn it was still the Ukrainian in pole position but then came Lavric’s final straight push and gold was hers.

Russian runs away from the field
As fastest in the 10,000m final Russia’s Gulshat Fazlitdinova might have been tempted to take it easy for the first half of the race before making her bid for victory. But the Russian was in no mood for compromise and took the bull by the horns right from the start. Using the simple tactic of making it fast and hard on a warm afternoon with the temperature nudging 24C she simply ran away with the title in 32:53.93. All the excitement was reserved for the battle for silver and bronze which was finally decided with 100m to go by the Ukraine’s Viktoriya Khapilina over Greece’s Anastasía Karakatsáni. Khapilina and Karakatsáni were over a minute down on the Russian but it was a lifetime best for the Greek.

Petrova leaves it late
She left it late, but in the end the woman who had led the Triple Jump qualifiers, Gabriela Petrova of Bulgaria, claimed gold with a sixth round effort of 13.91, a lifetime best. Silver went to Italy’s Daryia Derkach who had led from round three with 13.56. Maja Bratkic of Slovenia collected bronze just 4cm further back.After a foul in the first round, Petrova took a safety first jump in the second. Despite taking off 24cm behind the plasticine, she leapt into the lead with 13.46.That was surpassed by Derkach’s silver medal jump in round three and Bratkic in round five.But then came Petrova’s final effort and she made it count.

Holodnaya gold in the Shot
Olha Holodnaya of the Ukraine took early control of the Shot final registering 17.69 for her first effort to take the lead and then consolidated in the second round with a gold medal winning 18.11.She has been much further indoors but Holodnaya had never breached 18m outdoors before, her previous best of 17.86 coming this summer. In silver was Germany’s Shanice Craft who also set new figures of 17.29 with her third effort. Lena Urbaniak made it two medals for Germany with 16.98.

Pavel Maslak claimed at the press conference that he was here to hone his speed. But he also showed he has serious designs on a gold medal by taking heat one of the 200m in 20.51 coolly looking to his left for the last 10m. In second, Bruno Hortelano of Spain set new figures of 20.58. Poland’s Karol Zalewski won heat two in a career best 20.53 with Briton Daniel Talbot second on 20.68. Adam Gemili set the fastest time of the round with 20.46 into a gentle headwind.

Emir Bekric of Serbia took the first semi-final of the 400m Hurdles in 49.83 well clear of Briton Niall Flannery who had some serious work to do in the final straight to grab second spot from Czech Michal Broz. Briton Sebastian Rodger judged his effort well set a lifetime best 49.57 in the second semi, easing up on the line and indicating there is more to come. Despite leading for most of the race, Rasmus Magi of Estonia faded in the straight to finish second. In third Thomas Barr of Ireland set a lifetime best of 49.78.

His elder brother and Olympic champion, Renaud Lavillenie never won this title so now it is down to Valentin who took two jumps to secure his place in the Pole Vault final. Claudio Michel Stecchi of Italy’s, Daniel Clemens of Germany and Poland’s Robert Sobera all went through without a hitch to Sunday final.

British clean sweep on the cards
After her silver medal exploits in the 100m, Jodie Williams came back on to the track to win the first heat of the 200m in a season’s best 23.09. Ashleigh Nelson repeated the British tonic winning the heat two in a personal best 23.34 and then fellow Brit, Bianca Williams made it three out of three, taking the third heat also in a personal best of 23.24. It could conceivably be clean sweep for Great Britain in the final.

Russia’s Vera Rudakova confirmed her 400m Hurdles favourite status with a finely judged run to set the fastest time of the qualifiers in the third and final heat of 57.15. Running blind in lane seven Aurelie Chaboubez of France qualified easily in 57.40 to take the first heat. In her wake the second automatic qualifying slot went to the Netherlands Bianca Baak in a lifetime best 57.58, shaving 0.75 off her previous best.

Lebid took the second heat in 58.20 with medal shot, Marina Reznikova of Russia, fading to third over two and a half seconds off her best set this year and out of the competition.