Novi Sad, Serbia – Hayle Ibrahimov may speak only the most basic words of Azerbaijani but the Ethiopian-born teenager knows how to express himself on the track as, now wearing the colours of his adopted Azerbaijan, he provided arguably the highlight of the opening day (23) of the 20th European Athletics Junior Championships.

Ibrahimov romped away to win the men's 10,000m in a national junior record 30:06.64, one of three gold medals decided on the first of four days of competition in Serbia's second city.

Ibrahimov puts Azerbaijan on the map

Blessed with disproportionately long legs and attached to a barrel chest which provided the engine for his efforts, Ibrahimov's running style vaguely resembles Kenya's John Ngugi rather than former compatriots like Kenenisa Bekele or Haile Gebrselassie.

He took charge of the race in the third kilometre and was then never headed.

The crucial laps came between the 4000m and 6000m marks when Ibrahimov kicked in successive kilometres of 2:54.53 and 2:51.26 which succeeded in making all his rivals melt away in the stiflingly hot conditions, with the temperature gauge registering 36 degrees despite the race being conducted in the early evening.

Great Britain's Simon Jordan was the only dogged chaser beyond the halfway point but even he had been burnt off with 10 laps to go.

Ibrahimov reached the 6000m mark in 17:59.61 with Lawson 12 seconds in arrears. The gap stretched another four seconds in the next kilometre and was almost 19 seconds at 8000m.

Lawson kept his cool despite Ibrahimov continuing to extend his lead and never looking like faltering continuing to disappear into the distance to finish second and get Britain's first ever medal at the distance in  30:35.62.

Language barrier

The Azerbaijani runner, who got citizenship of his new country in February, did a well-deserved lap of honour with his country's flag and was clearly happy with what he'd achieved.

He seemed hardly out of breath either but as he didn't speak any Russian or English either - both languages also being quite widely used in Azerbaijan - it was impossible for anyone to ascertain first-hand the winner's thoughts on his race or his historic achievement. Instead, it was left to Lawson to provide an appropriate commentary.

“On the day he was by far the better runner than me or anyone else out there,” reflected the silver medallist, giving credit where it was due.

“I'd thought about taking it out from the start but I'd also seen the times he (Ibrahimov) had done over 3000m and 5000m and decided to change my plans. About 10 laps from home I knew the silver was mine if I didn't do anything silly,” added the young Briton.

Walk this way

Russia's Elmira Alembekova took the very first gold medal of the Championships when she won the women's 10,000m Walk in 46:31.07 with a performance as dominating as Ibrahimov.

She took the lead from the gun and never relinquished it to acquire Russia's fifth consecutive victory at the event. In fact, no other country has won the gold medal at the Championships since the discipline was extended from 5000m to 10000m in 2001.

"I finished 20 seconds behind my fellow Russian Tatyana Mineyeva at the World Juniors last year and she would have been the favourite but she had to withdraw a few days ago with a bad throat infection. I knew it was my big chance and I wasn't going to let it go so I decided to walk fast from the start even though it was very hot," said the diminutive Alembekova.

Alembekova held an nine-second lead over her compatriot Nina Okhotnikova as she passed the halfway point in 22:48.33 and it looked for a long time that there was going to be another Russian 1-2 on the podium, as it has been for the last three Championships although Mineyeva's late withdrawal meant that the clean sweep of two years ago in Hengelo was not going to be repeated.

With six laps to go, Alembekova's advantage over her team mate was exactly the length of the home straight but Okhotnikova, who was to struggle home third, wilted in final kilometre as Italy's Antonella Palmisano produced a super-charged second 5000m, going from fourth at the halfway point to second when she overtook her Russian rival just after the bell, and took the silver medal in 46:59.47.

A Shot in the arm for Belarus

Belarus has got a fine Shot putting tradition but not had won a women's gold at these Championships since 2001 until Aliona Hryshko ended that drought.

Hryshko, the 2007 IAAF World Youth Championships gold medallist, could boast of a personal best of 17.95m and was more than a metre better than any of her rivals before the start and the prohibitive favourite didn't disappoint.

She sent her implement out to 17.39m in the opening round and followed up her initial effort with three fouls as she aimed to go over the 18-metre mark for the first time in her career. Her fifth round 16.94m was still significantly better than anybody else could manage and then, with the gold medal already confirmed, she capped her series with a winning put of 17.59m.

Germany took the other two medals with Samira Burkhardt taking the silver with her final round 16.46m and had four other throws over 16 metres while he compatriot Sophie Kleeberg was third with 15.95m.

Belgium has never had even a medallist, let alone a winner, in the Decathlon but Thomas van der Plaetsen had a memorable first day and notched up five personal bests to lead at the halfway point with an impressive 4137 points.

Quick qualifiers

French sprinter Christophe Lemaître, the 2008 IAAF World Junior Championships 200m champion, looked good as he lead the qualifiers for Friday's 100m final by clocking 10.26 in his semi. Likewise, Germany's Yasmin Kwadwo was comfortably the best in the women's 100m semis at 11.61.

Great Britain's Chris Clarke, the 400m bronze medallist 12 months ago at the World Junior Championships, was the only man under 47 seconds when he won the first semi-final over one lap of the track in 46.71 while the Ukraine's Yuliya Baraley confirmed her status as the big favourite for the women's event by cruising to an easy first round win in 53.16, over half-a-second better than anyone else.

In the field event qualifying competitions, the man who caught the eye was Russia's Alexsey Fydorov in the Triple Jump.

The 2007 IAAF World Youth Championships silver medallist has jumped 16.62m this season, almost half-a-metre further than anybody else, and is the big favourite for the gold medal. He needed only one jump of 16.55m in to secure his place in Friday's final.

Phil Minshull for the IAAF