Elmira Alembekova won 20km race walk gold for Russia on the third day of the European Athletics Championships in Zurich this morning after an exciting tussle with the Czech Republic’s teenage star Anezka Drahotova and 21-year-old Ukrainian Lyudmyla Olyanovskaya.
Alembekova made her break with two laps of the 1km course to go, maintaining the title in her country’s hand after Russia swept the medals in Barcelona four years ago.
In the end the 24-year-old was a decisive winner on the sunny banks of the River Limmat as she threw off the challenge of her younger opponents to cross the line clear of the field in 1:27:56.
Olyanovskaya overtook 19-year-old Drahotova on the final circuit to take silver by one second in 1:28:07, while the tall Czech – surely set to be a future star of the event – became the youngest medallist in this event as she won bronze to go with her world junior gold from Eugene last month.
Alembekova won bronze at the World Race Walking World Cup in Taicang this year, and was a European junior champion back in 2009, while Olyanovskaya won silver at the European Athletics U23 Championships in 2013.
But it was the youngster Drahotova – a world class cyclist and long distance runner – who looked poised to strike as the group whittled down, first to eight, and then to three with just 4km left to race.
Alembekova had other ideas, though, and pulled clear with just over two to go leaving Drahotova and Olyanovskaya to battle for the minor places.
'Everything went according to plan,' said Alembekova.'The toughest moment came when it was down to the final three. I knew then I had to give it everything and do my best.'
Across the city at the Letzigrund Stadium, it was quite a session in the heptathlon with a sensational high jump competition.
After the opening discipline, the 100m hurdles, France's defending champion Antoinette Nana Djimou led with 1117 points after running 13.05.
But the high jump took the event to a new level.
It ended with a new overall leader in Nadine Broersen, of the Netherlands, who broke the national record with a best of 1.94m, yet she still did not win it.
That honour went to Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam whose 1.97m will go down in history.
The height broke the heptathlon high jump record at a European Athletics Championships as she equalled the all-time heptathlon high jump by another Belgium, Tia Hellebaut, from Götzis in 2006.
The competition was the last event of the session and it had the crowd captivated with Broersen going over at the second attempt for the Dutch record that saw her lead at the interval with 2211 points from Thiam with 2169 and Ukraine's Anastasiya Mokhnyuk, who jumped a personal best of 1.82m, with 2115. Djimou's 1.76m saw her drop back to fifth with 2045.
The morning after the glorious night before worked out perfectly for another Dutchwoman, sprinter Dafne Schippers.
Just over 12 hours after capturing 100m gold, Schippers was back on track in the heats of the 200m where she looked equally impressive.
She won her race in 22.73 and did so striding away, her tall, powerful frame just eating up the track as she seeks this golden double.
The Netherlands' athlete was the quickest from the heats, but the Great Britain duo of Dina Asher-Smith, who won her heat in 22.75, and Jodie Williams, who won hers in 22.88, are big threats.
The home crowd were treated to a Swiss national under-23 record from Mujinga Kambundji with her time of 23.05 as she finished second to Williams.
In the men's 200m, Britain's Adam Gemili was the fastest from the four first round races, winning the last of them in 20.39 which tied the quickest heat time in the history of the championships.
France's Christophe Lemaitre, the 2010 champion who won 100m silver on Wednesday night, was next best with 20.43 from his race.
It was a good morning for France with Renaud Lavillenie booking his place in the pole vault final by clearing 5.60m, but he needed two attempts to do so.
He will be joined by, among others, Jan Kudlicka, of the Czech Republic, Greece's Konstadinos Filippidis and Britain's newly-crowned Commonwealth Games champion Steve Lewis.
Poland's world champion Pawel Fajdek was the the leading qualifier in the hammer with his second round throw of 77.45m with the only other man to go over 77m being Slovakia's Marcel Lomnicky with 77.06m.
14th August 2014 01:15