Wednesday's Action in Barcelona
The second day of the European Athletics Championships saw athletes battle for a total of four gold medals, as well as an officiating controversy surrounding the tournament's medical team.
Swedish 3000m steeplechase runner Ulrika Johansson collapsed during the first round of the event. The medical team took over 90 seconds to react to her mid-race collapse, a delay for which the officials received widespread criticism after the race.
On the track, Wednesday's main event was the 100m final. Christophe Lemaitre, the fastest ever white sprinter, accelerated well after a relatively slow start to win the race in 10.11 seconds.
After him came no less than four sprinters who all clocked 10.18 seconds. These were runner-up Briton Mark Lewis-Francis, France's Martial Mbandjock in third place, Portugal's Francis Obikwelu in fourth and fifth placed Dwain Chambers of Great Britain.
Several minutes passed before the tournament officials were able to determine the order in which the quartet had finished the race.
Lemaitre's Maximum Top Speed
The French gold medalist has emulated a modern sprinting technique. Rather than focusing on a quick start, Letmaitre seeks to accelerate to top speed as quickly as possible in the race.
Having only started competing five years ago, Lemaitre bases his achievements on raw talent, and has lots of room for technical improvement, according to experts.
In recent years, sprinters like Lemaitre or world record holder Usain Bolt have displayed an explosive rate of acceleration which delivers them to top speed more quickly than their opponents.
Until that maximum speed is reached, they will often trail the other sprinters – as Lemaitre did in the final – only to overtake them with sheer pace once their legs are fully stretched.
"I didn't get a good start but I was able to pick my speed up well," said Lemaitre after the race. "I fought hard and it is a great feeling to be champion."
As the first white sprinter to break the ten second barrier, questions have been raised as to whether Lemaitre's successes will spur an ascendance of white sprinters in future tournaments.
Chambers, who returned to the European championships after a doping ban, said that such speculation may be a little premature. "Well, there is still only one [white sprinter at the top level]," he told reporters after the race.
"For what it's worth, [Lemaitre]'s done a fantastic job and has fought very hard to get to the position he is in," added Chambers.
The British veteran's own finishing time was 0.19 seconds off his season's best for 2010.
Abeylegesse Finally Wins Gold
In the women's 10 000m final, Turkish runner Elvan Abeylegesse won the gold after Briton Mo Farah won the men's final in the event on Tuesday.
Abeylegesse came second in the 5000 and 10 000m finals in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and will be looking to win Sunday's 5000m final to round off the tournament with two gold medals to her name.
At 31:10.23, Aberlegesse finished ahead of Russian runner Inga Abitova and Portugal's Jessica Augusto.
Close Call in Women's Long Jump
The women's long jump, meanwhile, produced a real upset as Latvia's Ineta Radevica clinched the gold medal by jumping 6.92m – a personal best.
Portugal's Naide Gomes jumped the same distance as Radevica, but her second longest jump was shorter than Radevica's ditto, so the gold went to the Latvian.
It was Radevica's first ever senior medal. She has previously claimed two bronze medals in the European U23 Championships seven years ago. Russia's Olga Kucherenko claimed this year's bronze medal.
Sweden's former heptathlete and Olympic champion Carolina Kluft, who now competes solely in the long jump, only reached 11th place with her 6.33m jump.
European junior champion Sandra Perkovic claimed the senior gold in the women's discus with a 64.67m throw that beat Nicoleta Grasu of Romania.
At only 20 years of age, the Croatian will look to add to her achievements in years to come.
Slovakian hammer thrower Libor Charfreitag, bronze medalist from the 2007 world championships, triumphed in the men's hammer final by reaching 80.02m.
The throw was 1.79m short of his personal best from 2003.
Charfreitag beat Italian Nicola Vizzoni to the gold while Hungary's Krisztian Pars finished in third place.
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