Dasaolu dazzles as Britain grab three golds
James Dasaolu added his name to the long list of British European 100m champions with an impressive victory over defending champion Christophe Lemaître in Zurich’s Letzigrund Stadium this evening completing a golden 90 minutes for his country after Mo Farah won the 10,000m and Tiffany Porter the women’s sprint hurdles.
In between, another French sprinter had to settle for second as Dafne Schippers claimed the women’s 100m ahead of Myriam Soumaré.
Sub-10s had been predicted after the opening rounds of the 100m yesterday, and Dasaolu ran 10.04 in the semifinals, the quickest ever at a Europeans. But it was a cool and breezy evening in the Letzigrund, and despite the presence of world record holder Usain Bolt, the newly resurfaced track didn’t yield any super-fast times.
In the final, though, all that mattered was getting to the line first and Dasaolu did that in style, leading out of the blocks and powering away over the second half to clock 10.06.
Lemątre made up ground at the end but had to settle for silver to go with his golds from Helsinki and Barcelona Рa double disappointment for France after their favourite Jimmy Vicaut withdrew from the semifinals with a pulled muscle.
Harry Aikines-Aryeetey snatched another medal for Britain in third, while 36-year-old Dwain Chambers was fourth, the oldest ever men ever to run the 100m final.
Schippers overcame a dreadful start, a stiff headwind and pouring rain to beat Soumaré in the women’s final, responding with a huge surge in the second half of the race to outdip the Frenchwoman in 11.12 as Great Britain’s Ashleigh Nelson took third.
The chilly -1.7 breeze no doubt affected the times but Schippers didn’t mind about that as she completed the first half of her quest for a sprint double.
The outdipped Soumaré clocked 11.16 to go with her 200m gold from Barcelona, while Nelson ran 11.22 and Mujinga Kambundji 10.30 in fourth after she had broken the Swiss record to make the final.
There was success for another double seeker in the men’s 10,000m where Farah surprised no one by regaining his title from four years ago.
But the world and Olympic champion, who has run only once on the track this season, and was hospitalised for four days last month with abdominal pains, had to summon all his famous finishing strength on the last lap to hold off two determined Turks and his British teammate Andy Vernon.
Tonight he completed the first half of his quest for another double, joining Finland’s Ilmari Salminen, Emil Zatopek and German Jurgen Haase as two-time winner of the European 10,000m crown.Vernon ran his best race of the season to win his first major championships medal while Kaya added a senior bronze to go with his two European junior titles from last year. Just 0.61 separated the first three.
An hour later Porter won a second gold for Britain beating Billaud by three hundredths to win the 100m hurdles in 12.76 with a second Cindy, Roleder of Germany, taking bronze in 12.82. It’s the first time Britain has won this event.
German powerhouse Robert Harting outclassed the field to retain his discus title with a third round throw of 66.07m. Barcelona champion Gerd Kanter was second with 64.75 and Poland’s Robert Urbanek picked up bronze.
Eloyse Lesueur finally brought victory for France when she retained her long jump title, beating Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic by just 0.04 with 6.85m.
Russia’s Darya Klishina took bronze in a desperately close contest with a last round effort of 6.65, equal to Malaika Mihambo’s fifth round jump but good enough for third by virtue of her better series.
After lying second overnight, Andrei Krauchanka ensured victory in the decathlon when he flopped over the line in 14th place at the end of the final 1500m.
The Belarussian had cleared 5.10m in the pole vault and unleashed a 68.11m javelin to take a 140-point lead over Ilya Shkurenyov into the final event. It was more than enough as he ended the two-day contest on 8616 points to win by 95.
Shkurenyov slipped back to third as Frenchman Kevin Mayer emerged from sixth to claim silver.
Heats and Semifinals
Britain can expect more medals in the men’s 400m final on Friday after Conrad Williams, Martyn Rooney and Matthew Hudson-Smith won their semifinals in convincing fashion tonight, Hudson-Smith the quickest of the trio in 45.30. Belgian’s Jonathan Borlée could be a threat after he ran 45.38.
Their teammate Christine Ohuruogu also made it to the women’s final, but the world champion looked laboured, finishing well behind Spain’s Indira Terrero’s 52.07. Olha Zemlyak was the fastest semifinalist, the Ukrainian unleashing an Ohuruogu-like kick to beat Italy’s European leader Libania Grenot in 51.24.
Rasmus Mägi set the 400m hurdles alight with a European lead and Estonian record of 48.54 to confirm his status as favourite for that final. Timofey Chalyy ran a Russian under 23 record of 48.69 in second place and will have his eyes on a medal.
There will be three Poles in the men’s 800m final, including 2010 winner Marcin Lewandowski, but Europe’s number one Pierre-Ambroise Bosse was the best of the semifinalists and will be the man to beat.
Olha Saladukha remains on course for a triple jump triple. The Ukrainian won gold in 2010 and 2012, and was the best of the this evening’s qualifiers, needing just one jump to go through to Saturday’s final.