European Athletics Under-23 Championships - Day One

Three finals, a championship best in the men’s 100m, sunshine, lightning and downpours gave a dramatic edge to day one of the European U23 Championships.

Pride of place must go to France Martial Mbandjock who upstaged 100m favourite Craig Pickering by smashing his PB by 0.13 with 10.16 to go into Friday’s final as the man to beat. Pickering has 10.15 from this season so it promises to be a clash to set day two alight. Yet there is cause for concern over the Briton's fitness as his lethargic starting here is due to an attack of back spasms which have been affecting his movement out of the blocks.

The men’s 5000m final went to France’s France’s Noureddine Smail who claimed gold with a last-lap surge that took him clear of Russia’s Andrey Safranov with Turkey’s Kemal Koyuncu holding on for bronze.

Italian duo Andrea Lalli and Simone Garibaldi led through the first kilometre in 2:50.47 with Ireland’s Joe Sweeney on their shoulder. Lalli stayed in front through the second kilometre reached in 5:41.87 before Sweeney applied the pressure, but failed to break the field. Fastest man in the final, Safranov closed the gap before himself attempting to break up the race with a surge.

With three laps to go, the pace slowed and Sweeney once again threw down the gauntlet but he was quickly swallowed up by the sprinters. With 300m remaining Smail swept into the lead and was never headed, setting a PB of 13:53.15 while Safranov’s sprint came too late to make any impression. 

Both Shot Puts were decided on day one. On her first effort Irina Tarasova (RUS) came within 1cm of her PB with 18.26 and that was good enough not only to lead the competition from the first round but to take the title. Anna Avdeyeva (RUS) never came close to her pre-championship form and had to be content with bronze while Denise Hinrichs (GER) claimed silver.

“It's difficult to realize that I'm the European champion,” said Tarasova. “I’m really happy and satisfied with my result. I had a good first attempt and this shocked my opponents. I think only the rain stopped me to reach a new personal best result.”

For the men, Poland’s Giza Jacub exceeded expectations by beating his PB on his first three releases to lift the title with 19.87 and defeat favourite Luka Rujevic (SRB) who could manage no better than 19.55 in the third round. Bronze went to Aleksandr Grekov (RUS).

Montell Douglas (GBR) swept through to tomorrow’s 100m final with her second PB of the day, a fine 11.28, a qualifying time for the World Championships in Osaka later this summer. Douglas was almost two tenths clear of Russian Natalya Murinovich in second and now goes into the final as clear favourite. In the course of the day she lopped a massive 0.23 from her best. Pre-race favourite, Verena Sailer (GER), took the second semi in a slower 11.37.

Andrei Krauchanka (BLR) took his time to get going in the decathlon, waiting until the high jump to really show his class with a 2.14 clearance and then sealing the day with a 47.61 400m to end on 4399. Second was early leader Oleksiy Kasyanov (UKR), 4289 with Pascal Behrenbruch (GER) a further 101 points down.

There seems to be no sign of Russia’s dominance of the women’s 4x400m waning. Three heats, three Russians, three wins and the possibility of a clean sweep in Friday’s final as well as making Russia clear favourites for the 4x400m title. Lyudmila Litvinova coasted to the line in a comfortable 52.64 in the first heat with Kseniya Zadorina equally comfortable in race two for a 52.97 clocking while Olga Shulikova made it a full house.

Michael Butcher for the IAAF