All smiles - Mo Farah takes his first European outdoor gold in the Barcelona 10,000m (© Getty Images)
Barcelona, SpainDominating performances by shot putter Nadzeya Ostapchuk and the latest Russian race walking prodigy Stanislav Emelyanov, along with an expected 1-2 British finish in the men’s 10,000m were the headline performances on the opening day of the 20th European Athletics Championships in Barcelona.
Farah cruises to First-ever British men’s 10,000m title
Closing with a sizzling 57 second final lap, Mo Farah took an expected victory in a tactical 10,000m, reaching the line in 28:24.99, and not looking particularly winded.
“The first (outdoor) European gold feels great,” said the 27-year-old, who added his victory over the longest distance on the track to his other continental titles, the indoor 3000m from 2009 and Cross Country from 2006. “It was many years of hard work to achieve this goal.”
Farah's was the slowest winning time at these championships since East German Manfred Kuschmann's 28:25.8 victory in 1974, a bit of trivia that plays perfectly into the Briton's double ambitions this week. He'll need fresh legs in the 5000m where he'll face a significantly stronger challenge.
“I need to recover fast,” said Farah, who finished second in the 5000m in Gothenburg four years ago, “but I’ve got it going on.”
A handful of runners took turns with the lead during a sluggish first half, with Abdellati Meftah of France reaching the midway point in 14:38.10. With 11 laps to go the pack finally began to splinter, but there were still ten men running together at the front. With five laps to go, Farah and Spaniard Ayad Lamdassem broke away, with British No. 2 Chris Thompson, Italy’s Daniele Meucci, and Carles Castillejo, the Spanish No. 2, remaining in contention for the third podium spot.
With three laps remaining, Farah looked to his side and smiled toward Lamdassem, motioning to him to move to the lead. The Spaniard obliged and ran at the front until Farah kicked by for good as he entered the back straight for the final time.
With Farah’s win secure, the thrilling tussling for the remaining medals began. Thompson, who improved to 27:29.61 this year, began to make up ground on the fading Lamdassem, with Meucci giving chase as well. The pair duked out to the end, first passing the Spaniard before they reached the line virtually inseparable. Both were credited with a 28:27.33, with the photo reading giving Thompson the silver.
“This is the first season in a long time that have competed without injuries,” Thompson said. “And for me, being second behind Mo Farah, is like a gold medal. He’s an incredible athlete and no one could beat him tonight.”
Teenager Emelyanov cruises to 20Km Race Walk title
While Farah capped the first day of action, the first came on the roads with the men’s 20Km Race Walk, an event not lacking in experienced star power. Bu that bit of trivia meant little to the field’s youngest entrant, the 19-year-old Emelyanov. Pounding the pavement with the aplomb and confidence of a seasoned veteran, the Russian teenager who trains at the famed Saransk school took down a strong field with his convincing victory in 1:20:10.
“It’s been a great race for me, I’m very happy,” said Emelyanov, whose first season in the senior ranks can certainly be characterised as an unabashed success. Indeed, the victory seemed destined to come sooner or later, given his already impressive resume which includes World youth and World Junior titles over 10,000m in 2007 and 2008.
At or near the front from the outset, Emelyanov traded the lead with Italy’s 50Km Olympic champion Alez Schwazer for the first seven kilometres. But by the midway point, Emelyanov carved out an eight second lead on his nearest pursuer, one he extended to 15 seconds two kilometres later. By 18Km, his lead was a hefty 34 seconds ahead of Schwazer and Portugal’s Joao Vieira. With a closing 7:55 final kilometre, the second fastest of the race, Schwazer (1:20:28) closed the gap slightly as he pulled away from the Vieira (1:20:49) to secure the silver, but Emelyanov still reached the finish with a cozy 28 second cushion.
Schwazer, whose medal was his first in major competitions over the distance, returns to action on Friday morning in his 50Km specialty. For Vieira, it was his second consecutive European bronze.
Ostapchuk’s Shot Put exhibition
There were no surprises in the women’s Shot Put where world leader Nadzeya Ostapchuk took control of the competition from the first round to bag her first European title. The Belarusian may not have known it at the time, but her 19.67m opener would have sufficed to turn back the best her compatriot, the defending champion Natallia Mikhnevich, and surprise bronze medallist, Russian Anna Avdeyeva, could manage at the Olympic Stadium.
“This year I’m in top shape,” understated the 30-year-old, who finished second at these championships four years ago.
Fouling in rounds two and three, Ostapchuk sealed the victory with a 20.43m effort in the fourth round. After another foul in the fifth, she padded her lead with a 20.48m blast, the sixth farthest winning throw of the season. Ostapchuk also owns four of the five others, including the 20.95m world leader.
Mikhnevich secured the silver with her 19.52m in the second round before improving marginally in the last to 19.53m. The last round also saw Belarusian sweep ambitions being tossed aside courtesy of Avdeyeva’s 19.39m season’s best, 10 centimetres better than Yanina Pravalinskay-Karolchyk’s two 19.29m efforts. Russian Olga Ivanova (19.02m) also broke the sand beyond the 19-metre line to finish fifth.
Quick women’s 800m qualifying takes its toll
With her quick and quite comfortable 1:59.71 victory in the first heat, Russia’s pre-meet favourite Mariya Savinova set the tone for an uncharacteristically fast 800m opening round, one that witnessed the exit of some medal contenders despite their fast times.
Among those packing their bags early: Ukraine’s Yuliya Krevsun, the fourth place finisher at last year’s World Championships, who clocked 1:59.44, the fastest of non-qualifiers; and Italy’s Elisa Cusma Piccione, sixth at last year’s Worlds, who clocked 1:59.80 for third in heat three.
Russian Svetlana Klyuka took the second and fastest heat where the top-five ran under two minutes. Klyuka’s 1:58.89 was a season’s best, just dipping by for the win ahead of Briton Jenny Meadows who a scant 0.01 behind. Spain’s Mayte Martinez (1:59.12) and Slovak Lucia Klocova (1:59.31) also needed season’s best to advance from the heat ahead of Krevsun.
Briton Jemma Simpson won the third heat in 1:59.18, advancing to Friday’s final along with Czech Lenka Masna (1:59.71), who produced a career best at the most opportune of times.
No surprises in men’s 100m heats
The opening round of the men's 100m went pretty much according to the pre-meet script, with favourites Dwain Chambers, Christophe Lemaitre and defending champion Francis Obikwelu all advancing comfortably.
Chambers won the first heat in 10.21, well ahead of Ronald Pognon (10.46) pof France. Another Frenchman, Martial Mbandjock, took heat two in 10.26, ahead of Italy's Emanuele Di Gregorio (10.31) and Slovenia's Matic Osovnikar (10.36), the 2006 bronze medallist. Obikwelu lead Tobias Unger across the line in the third heat in 10.27 to the German's 10.35. Norway's Jaysuma Saidy Ndure took heat four in 10.31 marginally ahead of Austrian Ryan Moseley who clocked 10.39. Lemaitre, at 20 a member of the sub-10 club, was the fastest of the day, taking the fifth of five heats in 10.19, reaching the line a few feet ahead of Briton Mark Lewis Francis (10.23).
Russian Natalya Antyukh, the 2004 Olympic champion in the 400m flat, cruised to the quickest time in the opening round of the 400m Hurdles, clocking 54.29, not too far outside of her 54.00 career best set earlier this year. Vania Stambolova of Bulgaria, the defending European 400m champion, was the next fastest at 54.77, 0.2 seconds shy of her personal best. The other heat winners were Romanian Angela Morasanu (55.11) and Czech Zuzana Hejnova (55.36). The semi-finals are tomorrow (28) night.
Likewise, there were no surprises in the men’s 400m opening round which eliminated just 11 men. Briton Michael Bingham, a 2009 World Championships finalist, was the fastest of the morning at 45.49.
... and qualifying on the infield
There was strong depth on display in the qualifying round of the women’s Long Jump competition, where 6.62m was needed to move on to Wednesday’s final. Defending champion Lyudmila Kolchanova of Russia led all qualifiers with a 6.87m leap, with Portugal's Naide Gomes next at 6.81m. Among those not making the cut was former champion Tatyana Kotova (6.48m), putting paid to any Russian medal sweep ambitions, and Estonia’s Ksenija Balta (6.53m), the European champion indoors.
Among those who did advance was Carolina Kluft, who silenced her critics by producing her two farthest jumps of the year, first a 6.62m in the first round and 6.51m in the second. The latter was critical for the former Heptathlon star, which broke a tie with Irene Pusterla of Switzerland for the 12th and final qualifying spot.
In the men’s Triple Jump, Teddy Tamgho rode +3.1 m/s wind to a 17.37m leap, the farthest of the round in which no major casualties fell.
The men’s High Jump was relatively non-eventful, with no big names missing the cut to Thursday’s final. All but three of the 12 qualifier cleared 2.26m, including Russians Ivan Ukhov and Alexander Shustov.
In the men’s Hammer Throw, Libor Charfreitag, the world leader, led all qualifiers with a 77.70m toss. 74.16m was enough to make it Wednesday’s final. Among those not making the cut were Belarusian Pavel Kryvitski (72.68m), currently second on the season’s list at 80.44m, and Latvian champion Igors Sokolovs, a 79-metre man this season.
Four women – World record holder Barbora Spotakova (65.56m), German Christina Obergfoll (65.05m), Marija Abukamova (62.52m) and Slovenia’s Martina Ratej (61.92m) - nailed the 59.50m automatic qualifier to set up an intriguing final.
In the women's Discus Throw, It was veteran Nicoleta Grasu, at 38 years and 318 days the oldest woman in the field, who produced the farthest throw, a 62.10m with her third effort. Germany's world leader Nadine Muller (60.54m) and Wioletta Potepa (60.45m) of Poland reaching beyond the 60-metre line as well. A modest 56.32m was enough to reach Wednesday's final, ensuring that none of the chief contenders were left behind.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
Click here for FULL RESULTS from Day 1
Farah cruises to First-ever British men’s 10,000m title
Closing with a sizzling 57 second final lap, Mo Farah took an expected victory in a tactical 10,000m, reaching the line in 28:24.99, and not looking particularly winded.
“The first (outdoor) European gold feels great,” said the 27-year-old, who added his victory over the longest distance on the track to his other continental titles, the indoor 3000m from 2009 and Cross Country from 2006. “It was many years of hard work to achieve this goal.”
Farah's was the slowest winning time at these championships since East German Manfred Kuschmann's 28:25.8 victory in 1974, a bit of trivia that plays perfectly into the Briton's double ambitions this week. He'll need fresh legs in the 5000m where he'll face a significantly stronger challenge.
“I need to recover fast,” said Farah, who finished second in the 5000m in Gothenburg four years ago, “but I’ve got it going on.”
A handful of runners took turns with the lead during a sluggish first half, with Abdellati Meftah of France reaching the midway point in 14:38.10. With 11 laps to go the pack finally began to splinter, but there were still ten men running together at the front. With five laps to go, Farah and Spaniard Ayad Lamdassem broke away, with British No. 2 Chris Thompson, Italy’s Daniele Meucci, and Carles Castillejo, the Spanish No. 2, remaining in contention for the third podium spot.
With three laps remaining, Farah looked to his side and smiled toward Lamdassem, motioning to him to move to the lead. The Spaniard obliged and ran at the front until Farah kicked by for good as he entered the back straight for the final time.
With Farah’s win secure, the thrilling tussling for the remaining medals began. Thompson, who improved to 27:29.61 this year, began to make up ground on the fading Lamdassem, with Meucci giving chase as well. The pair duked out to the end, first passing the Spaniard before they reached the line virtually inseparable. Both were credited with a 28:27.33, with the photo reading giving Thompson the silver.
“This is the first season in a long time that have competed without injuries,” Thompson said. “And for me, being second behind Mo Farah, is like a gold medal. He’s an incredible athlete and no one could beat him tonight.”
Teenager Emelyanov cruises to 20Km Race Walk title
While Farah capped the first day of action, the first came on the roads with the men’s 20Km Race Walk, an event not lacking in experienced star power. Bu that bit of trivia meant little to the field’s youngest entrant, the 19-year-old Emelyanov. Pounding the pavement with the aplomb and confidence of a seasoned veteran, the Russian teenager who trains at the famed Saransk school took down a strong field with his convincing victory in 1:20:10.
“It’s been a great race for me, I’m very happy,” said Emelyanov, whose first season in the senior ranks can certainly be characterised as an unabashed success. Indeed, the victory seemed destined to come sooner or later, given his already impressive resume which includes World youth and World Junior titles over 10,000m in 2007 and 2008.
At or near the front from the outset, Emelyanov traded the lead with Italy’s 50Km Olympic champion Alez Schwazer for the first seven kilometres. But by the midway point, Emelyanov carved out an eight second lead on his nearest pursuer, one he extended to 15 seconds two kilometres later. By 18Km, his lead was a hefty 34 seconds ahead of Schwazer and Portugal’s Joao Vieira. With a closing 7:55 final kilometre, the second fastest of the race, Schwazer (1:20:28) closed the gap slightly as he pulled away from the Vieira (1:20:49) to secure the silver, but Emelyanov still reached the finish with a cozy 28 second cushion.
Schwazer, whose medal was his first in major competitions over the distance, returns to action on Friday morning in his 50Km specialty. For Vieira, it was his second consecutive European bronze.
Ostapchuk’s Shot Put exhibition
There were no surprises in the women’s Shot Put where world leader Nadzeya Ostapchuk took control of the competition from the first round to bag her first European title. The Belarusian may not have known it at the time, but her 19.67m opener would have sufficed to turn back the best her compatriot, the defending champion Natallia Mikhnevich, and surprise bronze medallist, Russian Anna Avdeyeva, could manage at the Olympic Stadium.
“This year I’m in top shape,” understated the 30-year-old, who finished second at these championships four years ago.
Fouling in rounds two and three, Ostapchuk sealed the victory with a 20.43m effort in the fourth round. After another foul in the fifth, she padded her lead with a 20.48m blast, the sixth farthest winning throw of the season. Ostapchuk also owns four of the five others, including the 20.95m world leader.
Mikhnevich secured the silver with her 19.52m in the second round before improving marginally in the last to 19.53m. The last round also saw Belarusian sweep ambitions being tossed aside courtesy of Avdeyeva’s 19.39m season’s best, 10 centimetres better than Yanina Pravalinskay-Karolchyk’s two 19.29m efforts. Russian Olga Ivanova (19.02m) also broke the sand beyond the 19-metre line to finish fifth.
Quick women’s 800m qualifying takes its toll
With her quick and quite comfortable 1:59.71 victory in the first heat, Russia’s pre-meet favourite Mariya Savinova set the tone for an uncharacteristically fast 800m opening round, one that witnessed the exit of some medal contenders despite their fast times.
Among those packing their bags early: Ukraine’s Yuliya Krevsun, the fourth place finisher at last year’s World Championships, who clocked 1:59.44, the fastest of non-qualifiers; and Italy’s Elisa Cusma Piccione, sixth at last year’s Worlds, who clocked 1:59.80 for third in heat three.
Russian Svetlana Klyuka took the second and fastest heat where the top-five ran under two minutes. Klyuka’s 1:58.89 was a season’s best, just dipping by for the win ahead of Briton Jenny Meadows who a scant 0.01 behind. Spain’s Mayte Martinez (1:59.12) and Slovak Lucia Klocova (1:59.31) also needed season’s best to advance from the heat ahead of Krevsun.
Briton Jemma Simpson won the third heat in 1:59.18, advancing to Friday’s final along with Czech Lenka Masna (1:59.71), who produced a career best at the most opportune of times.
No surprises in men’s 100m heats
The opening round of the men's 100m went pretty much according to the pre-meet script, with favourites Dwain Chambers, Christophe Lemaitre and defending champion Francis Obikwelu all advancing comfortably.
Chambers won the first heat in 10.21, well ahead of Ronald Pognon (10.46) pof France. Another Frenchman, Martial Mbandjock, took heat two in 10.26, ahead of Italy's Emanuele Di Gregorio (10.31) and Slovenia's Matic Osovnikar (10.36), the 2006 bronze medallist. Obikwelu lead Tobias Unger across the line in the third heat in 10.27 to the German's 10.35. Norway's Jaysuma Saidy Ndure took heat four in 10.31 marginally ahead of Austrian Ryan Moseley who clocked 10.39. Lemaitre, at 20 a member of the sub-10 club, was the fastest of the day, taking the fifth of five heats in 10.19, reaching the line a few feet ahead of Briton Mark Lewis Francis (10.23).
Russian Natalya Antyukh, the 2004 Olympic champion in the 400m flat, cruised to the quickest time in the opening round of the 400m Hurdles, clocking 54.29, not too far outside of her 54.00 career best set earlier this year. Vania Stambolova of Bulgaria, the defending European 400m champion, was the next fastest at 54.77, 0.2 seconds shy of her personal best. The other heat winners were Romanian Angela Morasanu (55.11) and Czech Zuzana Hejnova (55.36). The semi-finals are tomorrow (28) night.
Likewise, there were no surprises in the men’s 400m opening round which eliminated just 11 men. Briton Michael Bingham, a 2009 World Championships finalist, was the fastest of the morning at 45.49.
... and qualifying on the infield
There was strong depth on display in the qualifying round of the women’s Long Jump competition, where 6.62m was needed to move on to Wednesday’s final. Defending champion Lyudmila Kolchanova of Russia led all qualifiers with a 6.87m leap, with Portugal's Naide Gomes next at 6.81m. Among those not making the cut was former champion Tatyana Kotova (6.48m), putting paid to any Russian medal sweep ambitions, and Estonia’s Ksenija Balta (6.53m), the European champion indoors.
Among those who did advance was Carolina Kluft, who silenced her critics by producing her two farthest jumps of the year, first a 6.62m in the first round and 6.51m in the second. The latter was critical for the former Heptathlon star, which broke a tie with Irene Pusterla of Switzerland for the 12th and final qualifying spot.
In the men’s Triple Jump, Teddy Tamgho rode +3.1 m/s wind to a 17.37m leap, the farthest of the round in which no major casualties fell.
The men’s High Jump was relatively non-eventful, with no big names missing the cut to Thursday’s final. All but three of the 12 qualifier cleared 2.26m, including Russians Ivan Ukhov and Alexander Shustov.
In the men’s Hammer Throw, Libor Charfreitag, the world leader, led all qualifiers with a 77.70m toss. 74.16m was enough to make it Wednesday’s final. Among those not making the cut were Belarusian Pavel Kryvitski (72.68m), currently second on the season’s list at 80.44m, and Latvian champion Igors Sokolovs, a 79-metre man this season.
Four women – World record holder Barbora Spotakova (65.56m), German Christina Obergfoll (65.05m), Marija Abukamova (62.52m) and Slovenia’s Martina Ratej (61.92m) - nailed the 59.50m automatic qualifier to set up an intriguing final.
In the women's Discus Throw, It was veteran Nicoleta Grasu, at 38 years and 318 days the oldest woman in the field, who produced the farthest throw, a 62.10m with her third effort. Germany's world leader Nadine Muller (60.54m) and Wioletta Potepa (60.45m) of Poland reaching beyond the 60-metre line as well. A modest 56.32m was enough to reach Wednesday's final, ensuring that none of the chief contenders were left behind.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
Click here for FULL RESULTS from Day 1
