I was expecting the European 2018 Championships to be much better than those of 2016. After all 2018 is not an olympic year and the championships represent for most european athletes the culmination of a year's efforts. Fortunately I was not disappointed. And to cap this off it was the best european championship ever for the team of Greece. With three gold medals and 6 in total the greek team was at the 5th place in the classification, in a tie with Belgium, just behind France who had a so-so championship.
The first ten countires classified based on medals
D. Asher-Smith was the queen of the championships with two individual gold medals and a third one in the 4x100 m relay. With 10.85 and 21.89 she registered two world-leading performances, while the 200 m reigning world champion, D. Schippers, had to content herself with a bronze and a silver medal in the two races. The great unlucky of the competition was M. Kambundji who finished 4th in both races and also missed a medal in the 4x100 m relay the swiss team finishing 4th. I was very happy to see the ever-fresh I. Lalova-Collio making it to the 200 m final where she obtained a honourable 5th place. Do we have a new M. Ottey in the making?
D. Asher-Smith winning the 200 m
The men's sprint was equally interesting but the 100 m has been marred by the absence of J. Vicaut who got injured just before the final. The race was won by Z. Hughes in a championship record of 9.95 s. This race was also a good occasion for me to see F. Tortu who is hailed, quite deservedly, as the next "white" sprint talent. (In case you wonder, the term "next" is given by reference to C. Lemaître, alas absent form these championships due to injury). The 200 m was a great race with R. Guliyev confirming his supremacy, one year after his world title. His time of 19.76 s was a championship record. The presence of A. Wilson in the medals came as a minor surprise to me (but then, his build reminds me of J. Regis and so the surprise is really minor). I was somewhat disappointed by the performances of Hortelano, 4th, and Gemili, 5th, although the latter registered a season's best in the final.
Guliyev added a european to his world title
The women's 400 m was a great moment for us greek fans, holding our breath till the last metre of the race. Belibasaki lost by just 4/100 of a second to Swiety. It was most probably her relative lack of experience in this race (she is coming from the 200 m) who pushed her to run too fast over the first 300 m. Still her mark is great and I believe that she can crack the 50 s next year. F. Guei was a rather disappointing 7th in the final while defending champion L. Grenot could not even make it, exiting at the semis.
The men's race was won by Hudson-Smith in 44.78 s but what I liked most was the race of the Borlée brothers who know perfectly how to dose their effort, securing in this case the silver and bronze medal. (I will comment on Warholm later on, when I will discuss the 400 m hurdles).
Belibasaki lost the gold medal just at the finish line
The two Borlée brothers
The women's 800 m was won by the reigning champion N. Pryshchepa thanks to her devastating finish. I am happy with the come-back of R. Lamotte to high-level competition after an "off" year due to injuries. And it is refreshing to see a 800 m final without hyperandrogenic runners. The men's 800 m was won by european and world indoor champion A. Kszczot, thanks to his great finish (but also his great knowledge of the race). The reigning world champion P.-A. Bosse did make it to the podium this time (just as he did 6 years ago). But the one who did really impress me was the silver medalist A. Kramer of Sweden. I am going to keep an eye on him in the future.
L. Muir winning the 1500 m just in front of S. Ennaoui
L. Muir won at last a gold medal in a major outdoor championship in the women's 1500 m race. She did not take any risk and led the race almost from the beginning. S. Ennaoui, whom I have been following for quite some time, managed this time to use her superior finish and clinch the silver medal. Concerning the men's race, I have already sung the praise of J. Ingebrigtsen. Τhe 1500 m european gold medals collection of the Ingebrigtsen brothers ιs really impressive: Henrik (4th at Berlin) won in 2012 and Filip (a disappointing 12 at Berlin) won in 2016. And there are brothers younger than Jakob :-).
L. Salpeter just realises her blunder
The women's 5000 was won with flying colours by S. Hassan but the drama took place at some 500 m from the end. L. Salpeter (Chemtai) thought mistakenly that this was already the final lap and sprinted only to realise, once the line crossed and still behind Hassan, that the bell was ringing. She desperately hang on but could only finish 4th, handing thus an unexpected medal to Y. Can (the only medal of a turc-kenyan runner). Salpeter was later disqualified for a lane violation. Fortunately for her she had already secured a gold medal in the 10000 race, the first for a woman representing Israel. The 10 km race was superb and the images of the silver medalist S. Krummins trying to reach the finish line while completely exhausted should serve as a lesson of tenacity to all aspiring champions.
S. Kummins reaches the finish line in utter exhaustion
In the men's 5000 the two Ingebrigtsen brothers Jakob and Henrik obtained a 1-2 (besting thus the Borlées who could "only" manage a 2-3). What I found amazing was their freshness just after a night's rest after the 1500 m final. The bronze medal went to M. Amdouni who a few days before had won the 10000. In that race I spotted a newcomer, Y. Crippa, Ethiopia born but running for Italy. He won the bronze medal thanks to a great finish. I will keep an eye on him in the future.
The three Ingebrigtsen brothers
The arrival on women's Marathon.
You can see the second and third not far behnd the winner
The women's 3000 m steeplechase was won by F. Krause who doubled thus her european gold medals. This time L. Gega could not make it to the podium finishing 4th, but I still believe that her conversion from the 1500 m to the steeple was the right choice. Perhaps she had made the Mediterranean Games, held in June and where she won easily, her prime objective of the year. The new name in the steeplechase race was K. Grovdal who after having a bronze medal over 10000 m in the 2016 Europeans went back to the 3000 m and won another bronze. The men's race saw the fifth victory in a row of M. Mekhissi. yes, I know, there are only four victories registered, that of 2014 having being usurped by a disqualification. (That was something we better forget. The spanish protest was an example of absence of fair-play). One can think whatever one wishes about Mekhissi, and I agree he is not the most lovable character among the athletes, but, still, he is the best european steeplechaser and he is proving this at every occasion.
M. Mekhissi celebrating is fifth victory
Both high hurdles went to outsiders. In the women's race where everybody was expecting A. Talay to win (she hit a hurdle and was disqualified) the victory went to another bielorussian, E. Herman, who managed to beat world medalists P. Dutkiewicz and C. Roleder (the latter being the 2016 european champion). But Herman was the world U20 champion in 2016 so her victory is not that big a surprise. I was hoping that N. Visser would make it to the medals (she finished 4th) but apparently her injury in spring delayed her preparation. All in all, I think that her decision to drop the heptathlon and concentrate on the 100 m hurdles was the right one.
P. Martinot-Lagarde was not really an outsider, having been hailed as a great talent for years. Still S. Shubenkov domination over the discipline has been total this year and nobody thought that he was going to lose the most important competition. And he lost it for 2 milliseconds. (I have already given my opinion on the absurdity of milliseconds: to my eyes times a tie at the level of centisecond should not be broken by some lousy photo-finish. The only way to a fair judgement would be a transceiver installed on the athlete's apparel). The 110 m hurdles was also also the culmination of a season of bad luck for M. Trajkovic. After his false-start disqualification in the World's Indoors (where he was vying for a medal) he got injured and presented himself at the Europeans in far from optimal condition.
The women's 100 m huirdles final
They should have been awarded the godl medal
L. Sprunger won the women's 400 m hurdles but the surprise came from the eliminations in the semis of both the double world champion Z. Hejnova and of the reigning european champion S. Petersen. I was hoping that A. Iuel, an heptathlete turned hurdler from Norway (does this remind you someone), would make it to the final but with the 9th time she failed by a trifle. Perhaps next time.
The men's 400 m was won by the favourite K. Warholm but it was not an easy victory. Pushed all the way by Copello, Warholm had to improve his personal best (which, by the way is the european U23 record) to 47.64 s in order to win. Warholm arrived at the championships with great ambitions: win both 400 m with and without hurdles. The semis and the finals of the two disciplines being on alternating days it was possible to participate in the two. But this meant no day of rest. So at the last race, the 400 m, Warholm ran in his usual all-out way till 300 m and then, running out of steam, he slowed down finishing last. Had he been able to repeat his time of the semis, he would have ended second edging one of the Borlées out of the medals. There is a lesson to be learned there. On the other hand, given the immense talent of Warholm, anything is possible in the future. Speaking of the 400 m hurdles I was impressed by a french hurdler I had not noticed before, L. Vaillant, who finished 4th. I will keep an eye on him.
K. Warholm at the finish line
The men's 400 m was won by the favourite K. Warholm but it was not an easy victory. Pushed all the way by Copello, Warholm had to improve his personal best (which, by the way is the european U23 record) to 47.64 s in order to win. Warholm arrived at the championships with great ambitions: win both 400 m with and without hurdles. The semis and the finals of the two disciplines being on alternating days it was possible to participate in the two. But this meant no day of rest. So at the last race, the 400 m, Warholm ran in his usual all-out way till 300 m and then, running out of steam, he slowed down finishing last. Had he been able to repeat his time of the semis, he would have ended second edging one of the Borlées out of the medals. There is a lesson to be learned there. On the other hand, given the immense talent of Warholm, anything is possible in the future. Speaking of the 400 m hurdles I was impressed by a french hurdler I had not noticed before, L. Vaillant, who finished 4th. I will keep an eye on him.
The women's 4x100 m final
Great Britain won the two 4x100 m relays. Turkey was second in the men's one thanks to an amazing anchor by Guliyev. D. Asher-Smith took the baton at 3rd (or perhaps 4th) position, but some 10 seconds later she had a comfortable 3 m lead over the second. The men's 4x400 m went, as expected, the belgian team, but, what a race! Spain was leading after the third exchange but Hortelano being a 200 m runner burnt out and was easily passed by K. Borlée (a 43.91 s anchor!) and M. Rooney (twice european champion and a great relay runner). What was missing till now in the belgian team was a good non-Borlée runner. With the arrival of J. Sacoor (world U20 champion this year) the team is complete: americans beware.
The belgian team, winner once more
Poland won the women's race and Guei (although she did gain a little on the individual 400 m champion, Swiety) could not perform her usual miracle and France finished second. Doyle did redeem herself after her disastrous 400 m hurdles and secured the bronze medal for GB, resisting the attack of the superb belgian team who finished 4th. Is the 400 m becoming the national event of Belgium? (Just kidding, they have an olympic, world and european heptathlon champion and this time they did also win the Marathon).
Poland winning the women's 4x400 m just in front of France
The next post will deal with the jumps and throws as well as the combined events.
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