Türkiye's Yasemin Can won the first gold medal of these European Athletics Championships with a stunning performance in the 10,000m here at the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday night.
Shortly after the halfway point the young runner’s lead was 70 metres, and although that margin was reduced to around 30m at the close she finished well inside her own European under-23 record of 31:30.58 in a time of 31.12.86.
It was a testament to the quality of Can’s performance that it dragged four other members of the field, including the silver and bronze medallists, 2012 European champion Dulce Felix of Portugal and Karoline Grovdal of Norway, to personal bests.
“I tried to see whether someone was following me or not,” said Can, “but nobody was, so I kept running on.”
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Can is now qualified for both the 10,000 and 5,000m at the Rio Olympics, having run a time of 14:37.61 this year.
“This was a good race, but the Olympics are going to be very hard and so I am not going to run alone there. I will follow someone – I cannot run alone!”
Although there was no personal best for Britain’s defending champion, 42-year-old mother-of-two Jo Pavey, there was nevertheless a huge fillip for her as this race was the last chance to get the Olympic qualifying standard of 32min 15sec, which she missed by less than a second earlier this season.
And Pavey, despite her obvious exhaustion, looked a satisfied athlete at the close after finishing in fifth place in 31:34.61.
“I don’t know whether I have qualified for the Olympics yet,” said Pavey, “because the two automatic positions have gone to other British athletes.
“I have not been as fit as I was two years ago. I had a chest infection and I have only been training for five weeks. So my aim here was to run for a good time.”
Felix commented: “This is a very emotional moment for me. I wanted this medal so very much for my dad who is not with us any more. He was the first person to hug me after my European gold medal in 2012, and that was the thought that came into my head after I crossed the finish line.
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'I wanted a fast race, and that happened, as Jo Pavey took the lead from the beginning. That was good for me, so I didn't have to waste any energy. When the Turkish athlete attacked so early in the race I never thought of going after her.
'When I accelerated I thought I could get closer to her, but I mainly focused on the gap between me and the athletes behind me. I'm so happy with this silver medal.'
There were also personal bests for the sixth and seventh placed finishers, Veronica Inglese (31:37.43) and Britain’s Jess Andrews (31:38.02).