Lavillenie wins third European pole vault title
ZURICH (Reuters) - France's pole vault world record holder and Olympic champion Renaud Lavillenie easily claimed his third successive European athletics gold medal at the Letzigrund on Saturday.
He needed only two attempts to retain his title, entering the fray at 5.65 metres and clearing 5.80 on his next outing. He then went on to vault 5.90 before failing at 6.01, still well short of the world record of 6.16 he set earlier this year.
“This competition was not easy as we had quite bad conditions,” said Lavillenie. “The conditions were not optimal. It was a tough thing. It means a lot to me to win three times in a row, and with only two jumps.
“This was very tough on me. I had to think about everything that happened. Five months ago I could barely walk after my world record. Winning the gold medal is never anything normal. Pole vault has always also got to do with hazard and chance.”
Poland's Pawel Wojciechowski took the silver with 5.70 metres and Jan Kudlicka of Czech Republic the bronze after clearing the same height.
Olha Saladuha of Ukraine and Sandra Perkovic of Croatia also won their third successive European golds.
Olympic and world champion Perkovic took the women's discus by throwing 71.08 with her fifth attempt, the longest throw in the world since 1992.
Saladuha won the triple jump with a leap of 14.73 metres, followed by Russian pair Yekaterina Koneva and Irina Gumenyuk.
GOLD FOR PARS
Olympic champion Krisztian Pars set a year-best as the Hungarian retained the men's hammer title with a throw of 82.69 metres.
Pawel Fajdek of Poland, who beat Pars to win the world championship in Moscow last year, was second with his fifth throw of 82.05.
Meraf Bahta fended off Netherlands duo Sifan Hassan and Susan Kuijken, second and third respectively, to win the women's 5,000 metres and give Sweden their first gold of the games.
Hassan, who won the 1,500 metres on Friday, seemed well placed as she attacked on the final curve but Eritrea-born Bahta proved too strong down the final straight.
Britain's Jo Pavey, who claimed 10,000 metres gold on Tuesday and was, like Hassan, attempting a double, finished seventh.
Christelle Daunay became the first French runner to win a European championship title in the marathon.
Daunay, who had never previously won gold at a major championship, moved into the lead in the final few km, having run alongside Italy's Valeria Straneo as the pair broke clear in the second-half of the race.
Straneo, went on to take the silver and Portugal's Jessica Augusto the bronze.
(Reporting By Brian Homewood, editing by Tim Collings)
