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| Darya Klishina (centre) is joined by Ivana Spanovic and Sosthene Taroum Mogeunara on the podium after the long jump. |
Darya Klishina had settled long jump qualification with one jump and repeated the dosage in the final with an opening leap of 7.05 to go second on the world lists behind American Britney Reese's 7.19 and collect gold on the final day of the Ostrava 2011 European Athletics U23 Championships.
It was also a championship record, with Ivana Spanovic of Serbia taking silver after a tussle with Germany's Sosthene Taroum Mogeunara who pocketed bronze.
'I am so happy for my personal best as well as the Championships and stadium record,' said Klishina.
'It was a very pleasant competition. I felt I can jump over 7 meters but I knew that for such a long jump the technique must be perfect.
'Usually, I do not jump technically so good in the first attempts. Mostly I jump too high and then the attempt is too short.
'Now it was exactly how it should be. It is very good that I managed to jump so far before the World Championships in Korea because the opponents will be very strong there.'
Fajdek a class apart in hammer
Instead of a lap of honour it was more like six rounds as Poland's Pawel Fajdek took the lead with his first throw and was never headed to collect gold.
With his final effort, Spain's Javier Cienfuegos snatched silver from Belarus' Aleh Dubitski who had to settle for bronze.
'I am so happy.I did my personal best so I have to be,' commented Fajdek.
'The conditions were great. I had huge support from the Polish team and it helped me a lot.'
Throwing last in round one Fajdek, who threw furthest in qualifying, took an early lead with 72.66. Siarhei Kalamoyets of Belarus and Andriy Martynyuk of Ukraine were second and third at this stage.
For his second effort, Fajdek applied some pressure and extended his lead with a heave of 76.74.
Bleasdale wins first major medal
The pole vault was really only about one athlete, Holly Bleasdale of Great Britain, who collected gold in an anticlimactic competition.
Wanting to erase Yelena Isinbayeva's championship best performance of 4.65, she had to be content with 4.55 because of the dangerous cross winds in the Mestsky Stadium.
Silver went to Ekaterini Stefanidi of Greece with a lifetime best 4.45, while Annika Roloff of Germany cleared 4.40 for bronze equalling her lifetime best.
'I came here hoping to win and I am very happy that I managed this goal,' said Bleasdale.
Carvalho confirms favourite tag in men's 1500
In virtually a carbon copy of the women's final, the favourite, Florian Carvalho of France took gold in a slow 3:50.42.
Silver by the slenderest of margins of 0.01 went to Britain's James Shane while Spain's David Bustos just held on for bronze.
'I was a little bit nervous before the final,' admitted Carvalho, 'because I was the leader of the rankings and I felt like everybody was watching me in the race.
'So, it was necessary to keep some energy for the last lap as it was very tactical race. The victory is so important to me.'
Sadeiko's first senior medal
Grit Sadeiko of Estonia won her first medal at senior level when she pocketed heptathlon gold in a personal best 6134. Three years ago she won world junior bronze.
Silver went to the home country's Katerina Cacnova, just 11 points down, while the pre-tournament favourite, Yana Maksimava of Belarus had to content herself with bronze.
'I felt so nervous before the last 800m run because it is not my strongest event,' said Sadeiko.
'I knew that Katerina Cachova is very good and that my advantage is not that big and it made me even more nervous.
'I think that the key event today was the javelin. Normally I can throw over 50 metres and I could not throw that far today.'
Mineyeva flags up victory
As expected, Russian champion, Tatyana Mineyeva, lifted the 20km walk gold from fellow Russian, Nina Ochotnikova, with Spain's Julia Takacs taking bronze.
'I was afraid because I received two warnings,' admitted Mineyeva who finished with a time of 1:31:42, nine seconds ahead of the runner-up with the Spaniard a further four seconds down.
'The first warning I did not expect at all. Takacs has a similar style and she did not get any warnings.
'The last kilometre I walked very slowly. I was afraid of being disqualified. The hot weather did not affect the race. I am used to even hotter conditions.'
Bogatyrev soaks up the sun
At the end, you could have thrown a blanket over the top three as Russia's Pyotr Bogatyrev broke the beam first with Poland's Dawid Tomala breathing down his neck and Denis Strelkov, also Russia, claiming bronze in the men's 20km walk.
From world junior bronze last year, Bogatyrev is now European Under-23 champion.
'The weather was OK for me today. We are used to training when it is around 30 degrees in Mordovia, Russia,' said Bogatyrev.
' There were strong opponents today and the pace was quite fast. We were changing the positions every kilometre. My tactics were to keep with the group until the half of the race and then to speed up.
'The last kilometre was very difficult as it was hard to keep proper technique and to avoid mistakes.'
Arzhakova at the double in 1500m
In a tactical race where times became utterly irrelevant, Russia's Yelena Arzhakova carried off gold in the slow time of 4:20.55.
Türkiye's Tugba Karakaya, who had looked so impressive in the heats, collected silver and Corinna Harrer of Germany bronze.
'The run was tactically similar to the one in the Indoor European Championships in Paris,' said Arzhanova, who collected gold there too.
Gold and silver for Spain in men's 3000m SC
Sebastian Martos and Abdelaziz Merzougi took gold and silver for Spain with Alexandru Ghinea of Romania in bronze.
The winner's time was 8:35.35.
'Of course, it was not easy to win but my mind was clear and I was focused on this race,' said Martos.
'I was eighth two years ago in Kaunas, so now I fulfilled my dreams and improved my position.
'Even two laps before the finish I felt a lot of energy but in the last 200m my legs started to be very heavy. I felt like my body and soul changed in a moment.'