GOTHENBURG, Aug 12: It was supposed to be Sweden's night but Belgium stole the show with two golds in under five minutes at the European athletics championships on Friday.

Unheralded high jumper Tia Hellebaut broke Swedish hearts by beating home favourite Kajsa Bergqvist to the title in the biggest upset of the championships so far.

Moments later Kim Gevaert added the 200 metres to the 100 crown she won on Wednesday with victory in 22.68 seconds on a damp, chilly evening in the Ullevi stadium.

Hellebaut was waiting at the finish line to congratulate Gevaert and the ecstatic pair posed for cameras draped in Belgium flags before embarking on a lap of honour together.

Gevaert became Belgium's first woman European champion with her 100 victory.

In an enthralling high jump final, four women went over two metres for the first time in European championship history.

Croatia's Blanka Vlasic wilted under the pressure, leaving Bergqvist, Venelina Veneva and Hellebaut to vie for the medals in front of a capacity crowd.

Bergqvist's first failure came at 2.03 and the whole stadium felt her anguish but they were also generous in their support of the other competitors.

Hellebaut, whose best coming into the final was 2.00, had the competition of her life, twice breaking the national record and setting a championship one, to win on the countback from Bulgaria's Veneva after both cleared 2.03.

Bergqvist, champion in 2002, had to settle for the bronze with 2.01.

The stadium resonated with the names of Sweden's athletic heroes and Susanna Kallur made sure the crowd did not go home too disappointed by winning the 100 metres hurdles.

Heptathlon champion Carolina Kluft gave them hope of more medals when she scraped into Sunday's long jump final with a leap of 6.53 metres on her final attempt.

Decathlete Czech Roman Sebrle overcame rain disruptions to emulate Kluft and retain his title, the first man to do so since Britain's Daley Thompson in 1986.

The world record holder had led the competition since the second of the 10 disciplines, the long jump, and never looked under any pressure.

His winning total of 8,526 was the best in Europe this year and a comfortable 170 points ahead of second-placed Hungarian Attila Zsivoczky.

Zsivoczky nabbed the silver after a fast 1,500 metres to see off Russia's Aleksey Drozdov by six points.

Finland's Jukka Keskisalo won the 3,000 metres steeplechase final in 8:24.89. Spain's Jose Luis Blanco won the silver and France's Bouadbellah Tahri took bronze.

European record holder Simon Vroemen of the Netherlands withdrew before the final because of food poisoning.

Results of finals on Friday:

Men's 3000-metre steeplechase: 1. Jukka Keskisalo (Finland) eight minutes 24.89 seconds; 2. Jose Luis Blanco (Spain) 8:26.22; 3. Bouabdellah Tahri (France) 8:27.15; 4. Mustafa Mohamed (Sweden) 8:27.79; 5. Antonio Jimenez (Spain) 8:28.78; 6. Radoslaw Poplawski (Poland) 8:29.33; 7. Guenther Weidlinger (Austria) 8:29.54; 8. Cesar Perez (Spain) 8:30.40; 9. Martin Proell (Austria) 8:35.69; 10. Pavel Potapovich (Russia) 8:38.19; 11. Itai Magidi (Israel) 8:52.69.

Women's 100-metre hurdles: 1. Susanna Kallur (Sweden) 12.59 seconds; 2. Derval O'Rourke (Ireland) 12.72, 2 equal. Kirsten Bolm (Germany) 12.72; 4. Glory Alozie (Spain) 12.86; 5. Aurelia Trywianska (Poland) 12.90; 6. Aleksandra Antonova (Russia) 12.93; 7. Jenny Kallur (Sweden) 12.94; 8. Adrianna Lamalle (France) 12.99.

Women's 200 metres: 1. Kim Gevaert (Belgium) 22.68 seconds; 2. Yuliya Gushchina (Russia) 22.93; 3. Natalya Rusakova (Russia) 23.09; 4. Monika Bejnar (Poland) 23.28; 5. Sylviane Felix (France) 23.45; 6. Yekaterina Kondratyeva (Russia) 23.58; 7. Yelena Chebanu (Ukraine) 23.63; 8. Angela Morosanu (Romania) 23.66.

Women's high jump: 1. Tia Hellebaut (Belgium) 2.03 metres; 2. Venelina Veneva (Bulgaria) 2.03; 3. Kajsa Bergqvist (Sweden) 2.01; 4. Blanka Vlasic (Croatia) 2.01; 5. Yelena Slesarenko (Russia) 1.99; 6. Iryna Myhalchenko (Ukraine) 1.95; 7. Yekaterina Savchenko (Russia) 1.95, 7 equal. Anna Chicherova (Russia) 1.95; 9. Ruth Beitia (Spain) 1.92; 10. Antonietta Di Martino (Italy) 1.92; 11. Emma Green (Sweden) 1.92; 12. Elena Meuti (Italy) 1.88; 13. Deirdre Ryan (Ireland) 1.84.—Reuters