The women’s 5000m will be one of the most compelling spectacles of a Saturday night which features eight finals, given the presence of two women seeking a golden double after earlier victories here – Great Britain’s 10,000m champion Jo Pavey and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, winner of last night’s 1500m title.
Pavey, a 40-year-old mother-of-two who is enjoying a marvellous late flourishing of her talents, will have had more rest, having won her gold on Tuesday night, but it is going to be a highly competitive race, with medal possibilities too for others such as Portugal’s Sara Moreira and Sweden’s Meraf Bahta.
Lynsey Sharp, Britain’s defending champion in the women’s 800m, has done everything right en route to the final, but her positive attitude will be tested to its limits against a field which includes Maryna Arzamasova of Belarus, this year’s IAAF World Indoor bronze medallist, who was fastest into the final with 2:00.36, 0.02 ahead of Poland’s Joanna Jozwik. Look out too for the Russian pair of Svetlana Rogozina and Yekaterina Poistogova and Britain’s Jessica Judd.
Eilidh Child also has gold medal possibilities on the night in the 400m hurdles, where she qualified best in 54.71. But she faces a stern challenge from Ukraine’s Ana Titimets, who clocked 54.90 to win her semifinal, and the experienced Denisa Rosolova of the Czech Republic.
Anna Incerti of Italy will defend the marathon title she earned from 2010 – there were no marathons at the last Europeans as it was in Olympic year – against a strong field which includes her team-mate Valeria Straneo, four years her senior at 38, who won silver at last year’s IAAF World Championships.
Also ones to watch will be Portugal’s Jessica Augusto, who won the European cross country title four years ago and finished seventh in the London 2012 Olympic marathon, Lithuania’s Zivile Balciunaite and Ireland’s double European cross country champion Fionnuala Britton, making her debut at the distance after finishing eighth in the 10,000m.
Olha Saladuha of Ukraine is seeking a third successive triple jump title, and her leading qualifying mark of 14.42m will have done plenty for her confidence about that task. But Russia’s Yekaterina Koneva has the potential to disappoint her given her effort of 14.89, the best in Europe this year, at last month’s IAAF Diamond League meeting in Monaco.
The women’s discus title appears to be Sandra Perkovic’s to lose. The Croatian Olympic and world champion qualified best with 63.93m, ahead of France’s Melina Robert-Michon (63.62) and the German pairing of Shanice Craft (61.88) and Anna Ruh (59.84).
Renaud Lavillenie, similarly, is the fixed favourite for the men’s pole vault title having eclipsed Sergey Bubka’s 21-year-old world record with his 6.16m clearance in February, a performance he has followed up outdoors with an unbroken sequence of victories which leaves him seeking his 20th consecutive win tonight.