Barbora Spotakova became the second recently returned mother to earn gold here after returning from giving birth as she followed Tuesday’s achievement by Britain’s Jo Pavey in the 10,000m to earn dramatic victory in the javelin.
The Czech Republic’s double Olympic champion and former world champion, who took last season off after giving birth to a son, had never won a European title, but moved from third to first with her fifth effort of 64.41m, surpassing by 0.20 the effort immediately preceding it which had taken Serbia’s Tatjana Jelaca into the gold medal position ahead of Germany’s Linda Stahl, eventual bronze medallist with 63.91.
Anzhelika Sidorova earned an even more dramatic victory in the pole vault as she cleared 4.65m on her third and final attempt to move above Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece, who had finished her competition with a best of 4.60 but was above the Russian on countback.
There was more shock and surprise at the end of the evening as the disqualification was announced of France’s Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad from what would have been his third consecutive European gold in the 3000m steeplechase.
The Frenchman removed his shirt as he rounded the final bend and encouraged the crowd to respond with upward hand gestures before jamming the shirt into his mouth and clearing the final barrier to finish well clear of the field 8:25.30.
His celebrations all the way down the finishing straight infringed the IAAF rule 125.5 concerning “acting in an unsporting or improper manner”, and he received a yellow card for this from a track official before he started his lap of honour.
But his victory was annulled after a successful application from Spain, whose athletes finished fourth and fifth, to the Jury of Appeal citing IAAF Rules 143.1, 143.7, relating to “clothing, shoes and bibs”. A French counter-claim was dismissed.
The silver, or rather golden lining for France was that the title thus passed to Mekhissi-Benabbad’s team-mate Yoann Kowal, who had moved from fourth to second in the final 200m to finish in 8:26.66 ahead of Krystian Zalewski of Poland, who clocked 8:27.11, with Spain’s Angel Mullera moving up to take bronze in 8:29.16.
But there was another double blow for France in the 110m hurdles as strong favourite Pascal Martinot-Lagarde, who recorded 12.95 last month, missed out on a medal after hitting a string of barriers, finishing 0.01 behind team-mate Dmitri Bascou – who was subsequently disqualified from his bronze medal position after obstructing an opponent in the next lane.
What was not in doubt was the retention of his title by Russia’s Sergey Shubenkov in 13.19 ahead of Britain’s William Sharman, who took silver in 13.27.
Thankfully no controversy marred another French success as triple jump gold went to Benjamin Compaore, whose opening effort of 17.46m, the best seen in Europe this year, proved a challenge far too long for the rest of the field.
Russia’s Lyukman Adams took silver with 17.09, five centimetres ahead of his colleague Aleksey Fyodorov.
Tomorrow’s 200m finals promise to be compelling viewing as Britain’s Adam Gemili and France’s former champion Christophe Lemaitre qualified in 20.23 and 20.26 respectively, and while 100m champion Dafne Schippers and silver medallist Myriam Soumare will do battle after going through in 22.48 and 22.56 respectively.
Britain’s Commonwealth silver medallist Eilidh Child was fastest qualifier for Saturday’s women’s 400m hurdles final in 54.71, while Anna Titimets of Ukraine was an equally convincing winner of her semifinal in 54.90.
Another British Commonwealth silver medallist, defending 800m champion Lynsey Sharp, dominated her semifinal to win in 2:01.32. Maryna Arzamasova of Belarus was fastest on the night with 2:00.36.