Germany and
Russia flex their muscles in Euro-clash
Nick Davies in Paris
Athletics may be a sport for the individual but everyone loves cheering a team, which explains the continuing popularity of the Spar European Cup, a throw back to the golden age of representative matches. 25,000 passed through the turnstiles of Paris’ elegant Stade de Charlety , mainly to shout for "La France" rather than to witness world beating performances. And while they may been have let down by their "golden boys" – the Olympic champion Jean Galfione exited the pole vault after miserably no-heighting at 5.45 and world champion Stephane Diagana finished fifth in the 400m hurdles – at least golden girl Christine Arron hit the right notes. But the biggest cheer came in the steeplechase, as local hero Gael Pencreach snatched victory – right on the line – after a thrilling last lap duel between Germany’s European champion Damian Kallabis and Italy’s Giuseppe Maffei. The German seemed to have done just enough to hold off the Italian, until Pencreach’s crowd-inspired bid for glory stopped the clock at 8:27.78.
Germany won the men’s trophy while Russia prevailed in the women’s event – helped by its all-conquering 4x400m relay team. Great Britain’s defending men’s champions could only finish third, behind Italy, while her women finished sixth, despite an inspired Paula Radcliffe running a world leading mark (and Cup record) of 14:48.79 to win the 5000m. Italy’s men did surprisingly well, winning four track events and coming close in a couple of others. In the 400m hurdles Fabrizio Mori surged past Pawel Januszweski (POL) and Ruslan Mashchenko (RUS) after the final hurdle to take victory in 48.68. Italy also won the men’s 1500m, 5000m and 3000m - all slow paced, tactical affairs which allowed Giuseppe D’Urso, Gennaro di Napoli and Salvatore Vincenti to make devastating use of their sprint finishes. One man’s watch clocked D’Urso’s last lap in 51 seconds – but the early pace had been 1:03.95 for 400m, 2:09.93 for 800m and 3:07.86 for 1200m – for a final time of 3:46.01.
Among other highlights were world leading marks from three Germans - Martin Buss in the high jump (2.34), Nicole Humbert in the pole vault (4.35) and Tanja Damaske in the javelin (65.44) – the best ever achieved with the "new" women’s implement. At the end of the first day, Germany were leading the men’s event with 59 points, with Italy second with 49 points and Britain third with 47. The British team were missing leading athletes like European champions Iwan Thomas (400m) Colin Jackson (110m hurdles) and Steve Backley (Javelin) – but had also been shocked by the death of their young hurdles star Ross Baillie a few days earlier. The team wore black ribbons and both Dwain Chambers (100m) and Mark Richardson (400m) dedicated their individual victories to Baillie’s memory. Britain’s current prowess in the sprints is so impressive that its 4x100m team were able to set a Cup record of 38.16 without the help of Chambers. Jason Gardener, Marlon Devonish, Darren Campbell and Julian Golding were good enough to leave the Greeks half a second behind in second place. Britain’s triple jump world record holders Jonathan Edwards and Ashia Hansen were both beaten: Edwards by Russian Denis Kapustin (17.40 to 17.24) and Hansen by Romana’s Cristina Nicolau (14.61 to 14.58), with Italy’s ex-Briton Fiona May, third with 14.33. May returned on Sunday to win the long jump with 6.88.
Christine Arron, France’s darling, didn’t let the fans down with two emphatic performances in the 100m and the 4x100m relay. As in the European Championships last summer, Arron came from a long way back to overtake the Russian anchor-leg runner (not Privalova but Goncharenko this time) in the relay while in the 100m, she was clear by half way and clocked 10.97 – just shy of the Cup record. Fourth in that race was Romania’s Ionela Tirlea, who came back less than an hour later to win the 400m in 50.69 – but also showed up the next day for the 200m where she finished fourth in 22.85 and a spirited leg of the 4x400m relay! Another busy Romanian was Gabriela Szabo, who won the 3000m on Saturday with 8:36.35 and the 1500m on Sunday with 4:13.63.
Spar European Cup
Final Scores
Women
1 Russia 127
2 Romania 99
3 France 97
4 Germany 93.5
5 Italy 71.0
6 Great Britain 68.0
7 Poland 65.0
8 Czech Republic 62.0
(Last two teams are relegated to Division II)
Men
1 Germany 122
2 Italy 98.5
3 Britain 97.0
4 Russia 95.0
5 France 81.5
6 Greece 80.0
7 Poland 79.0
8 Czech Republic 62.0
(Last two teams are relegated to Division II)
