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| March 06, 2007 | Tuesday | Safar 16, 1428 |
Britain happy after record medal haul
BIRMINGHAM, March 5: Britain's Jason Gardener sent the home crowd wild as he tore down the track to a fourth consecutive European indoor 60 metres title on Sunday and helped the hosts to a record medal haul.
Gardener's gold and victory by the men's relay team on top of success on Saturday in the men's triple jump and women's 400 metres put Britain on top of the medal table with 10 in total.
Their previous best was nine in 1989.
Gardener blasted out the blocks and led from start to finish for victory in 6.51 seconds.
Belgian sprinter Kim Gevaert claimed her third title in the women's final, with Greece's Katerina Thanou back in sixth in her first international competition since a two-year suspension for doping violations.
Poland's Lidia Chojecka made championship history by adding the 3,000 metres gold to the 1,500 she won on Saturday.
Chojecka made her move with two laps to go, going past long-time leader Jo Pavey of Britain and then pulling away from Spain's European 5,000 champion Marta Dominguez.
Czech Roman Sebrle became the oldest man to win the heptathlon title, snatching victory from Russian Aleksandr Pogorelov on the last discipline, the 1,000 metres,.
It was a hat-trick of European indoor golds for the 32-year-old, whose total of 6,196 points was the best in the world this year.
Stefan Holm kept his high jump crown as Sweden enjoyed a one-two in the competition. The Olympic champion, won the event ahead of Linus Thornblad with a best of 2.34 metres.
Britain's Martyn Bernard took an unexpected bronze after medal favourite Tomas Janku of the Czech Republic pulled out with an injury sustained when clearing 2.25.
There was also a double celebration for the Russian women in the pole vault with Svetlana Feofanova recapturing the title she held in 2002, in the absence of world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva.—Reuters
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