Lemaitre of France wins 100 gold at Europeans
Published:Wednesday | July 28, 2010 | 6:41 PM
Christophe Lemaitre surged through the field to win the men's 100-metre final at the European Championships in Spain today, the Frenchman's first triumph in a major competition.
The 20-year-old Lemaitre was slow out of the blocks but recovered to flash over the finish line in 10.11 seconds at Barcelona's Olympic stadium.
He entered the event having set the fastest time by a European this season earlier this month.
The next four sprinters crossed the line in 10.18 in a finish so close it came down to thousandths of a second to decide the order.
Mark-Lewis Francis of Britain took the silver and Martial Mbandjock of France claimed bronze ahead of defending champion Francis Obikwelu of Portugal and Dwain Chambers of Britain.
Olympic silver medalist Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey comfortably won the women's 10 thousand metres in 31 minutes 10.23.
Defending champ Inga Abitova's late surge brought silver for Russia. Jessica Augusto of Portugal held on for bronze.
Russia lead the standings with seven medals, including two gold, after winning five on Wednesday. Britain, Portugal and Italy all have three medals each.
Ineta Radevica beat Naide Gomes of Portugal in a tiebreaker to win the women's long jump. They both leaped 6.92 metres but the Latvian won her first major gold because of a longer second jump. Olga Kucherenko jumped 6.84 metres to take bronze.