Britain added two more medals at the sixth day of the European Championships.
Andy Turner took bronze in the sprint hurdles. After a poor start he got back into contention and in a lunge for the line came through for third place in 13.52sec. Latvian Olijars Stanislav took gold in 13.24sec with Germany’s Thomas Blaschek second in 13.46sec. David Hughes had gone out with eighth in his semi-final in 13.87sec.
It was not a surprise that Britain got a medal from the triple jump but many would have thought it would be Phillips Idowu and not Nathan Douglas who would return with silver. Home favourite Christian Olsson took gold in 17.67m. But Nathan Douglas leapt out to 17.21m in the fourth round to push into silver medal position as it became clear Idowu would have to improve on his 17.02m to medal.
Jo Pavey put in a typically bold performance in the 5K. Over the last 2K of a relatively slow race Pavey went to the front and started to whittle down the contenders. However as the last 800m loomed the presence of the big kickers in the guise of Spain’s Marta Domininguez and Russia’s Liliya Shobukhova, as well as former world record holder Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey boded ill for Pavey. As the last lap dust up came Pavey battle bravely but was always up against it and came out in fourth with 15min 01.41sec. Domininguez won gold in a new championship record of 14min 56.18sec beating the figures set by Sports Fitness’s Sonia O’Sullivan in 1998. Mary Cullen improved her PB by 16 sec to take 12th place with 15min 25.80sec. Marie Davenport who had run the 10K earlier in the week dropped out having spent the early stages of the race in the leading group.
Tracey Morris moved through the field to take 16th place in the marathon with 2hr 33min 13sec after struggling with stomach cramps. At the front the race was won by Ulrike Maisch of Germany who had hung off the lead pack before moving through to a medal position and to finally move into the lead with the stadium looming. She clocked 2hr 30min 01sec.
Britain’s women went through to the 4 x 400m final with Emma Duck, Jenny Meadows, Marilyn Okoro and Lee McConnell combining for 3min 27.92sec.
The British men also progressed to the 4 x 400m final with Robert Tobin, Rhys Williams, Graham Hedman and clocking 3min 02.51sec. The Irish Men’s 4×400 team also qualified well with 3min 04.59sec as Paul McKee, Brian Doyle, David Gillick and David McCarthy steered the team home.
The British men’s and women’s 4 x 100m teams moved into the finals. Anyika Onuora, Emily Freeman, Laura Turner and Joice Maduaka took fourth in their heat in 44.00sec. The men’s quartet of Dwain Chambers, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish and Mark Lewis-Francis were fastest qualifiers with 38.77sec. The Irish women’s team set a new national record of 44.38sec but it was not enough to reach the final. The Irish team was made up of Derval O’Rourke, Joanne Cuddihy, Ailis McSweeney and Anna Boyle.
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