THE Spanish Armada sank the European Athletics Championship marathon
hopes of England's Richard Nerurkar with a unique plundering of the
medals here yesterday.
Headed by a Basque, Martin Fiz, they swept the first three places, a
result never before achieved by any nation in a major championship --
Spanish revenge for Nerurkar's World Cup win over them on home soil in
San Sebastian last year.
And even if it was the ikurrina, the Basque banner, which they paraded
around the Olympic arena, this result set the seal on the Spanish men's
distance treasure chest: bronze at 800 metres, gold and silver at 1500,
silver at 5000, and gold at 10,000.
But the main Spanish pillaging was in the marathon. Fiz finished in
2hr 10min.31sec., a championship record, 15 seconds clear of Diego
Garcia, with Alberto Juzdado third in 2-11-18.
Garcia and Juzdado had been among Nerurkar's World Cup victims in
October, and showed their apprehension, constantly glancing back at him.
And their relentless inquisition broke the Englishman as the tempo wound
up over the final six miles, and he finished fourth in 2-11-56.
Nerurkar shadowed the leaders, staying off the pace by between seven
and 10 seconds, better, he said, to lift his drinks and sponges
unimpeded.
Despite having begun in 70-degree heat and 80% humidity, Nerurkar had
no problems as the field reached half distance in 66-08. The 5000m
splits were 15-46, 15-47, 15-41, 15-29, but then the tempo increased
again, to 15-24, and the lead group dwindled to three. Nerurkar was
alone in fourth, six seconds adrift. ''Where I wanted to be,'' he.
But then Fiz lit the touch paper, aided by his team-mates: 15-13 to 30
kilometres, with Nerurkar still clinging tenaciously adrift by that six
seconds.
The next 5000m, in 15-09, dropped him 24 seconds behind. ''I still
thought at that stage that one of them might blow up, and I could get a
medal,'' said Nerurkar, ''but they ran a good race -- they were the
stronger.'' Fiz covered the last 5000m in 15-20.
Iberian domination continued through the championships in the women's
endurance events, with Fernando Ribiero and Conceicao Ferreira adding
gold and silver in Saturday's 10,000m to their marathon gold won on the
opening day.
Ribiero's winning time, 31-08.75, was just 11 seconds outside the best
time of the absent double Commonwealth champion, Liz McColgan, but the
Portuguese's second-half kilometre splits (3-04, 3-02,
3-01, 3-07, and 3-02), after a modest 15-48.79 at half distance, would
surely have troubled the Scot, even fully fit. Vast government
investment is responsible for the Spanish and Portuguese advances.
Linford Christie was denied a further gold when the sprint relay sqaud
failed to get the baton around in the heats. Darren Braithwaite's
pathetic juggling attempt left Christie fuming.
And Christie was even less happy to learn of condemnation of his
actions last week by the UK's most powerful figure in the sport, British
Athletics Federation executive chairman Peter Radford.
He expressed his disapproval at Christie running onto the field to
talk to high-jumper Dalton Grant during competition, and to the T-shirt
he wore after his 100m victory.
''That T-shirt was clearly ill-advised,'' said Radford. ''He should
not have done it. We would not want to see an exercise like that
repeated.'' These actions would have brought the UK team captain a fine
under a new code of conduct soon likely to be imposed.
Mike Whittingham, coach to Roger Black, has been asked by Radford to
investigate a more structured support system for competitors. This could
lead to contracts after the style of Spain, Portugal, and most other
European nations.
This could include contracts for athletes, paid to run a certain
number of championship and international meetings, but also a code of
conduct.
''I would want to know athletes' plans for each year,'' said Radford,
''and that they were aiming at a particular competition -- not just
competing their legs off.''
He added that the rules regarding betting -- one was placed on himself
by 400m winner Du'aine Ladejo -- would be looked at.
Final
Helsinki
details
SATURDAY
Men. 50km walk -- 1, V Spitsyn (Rus) 3hr 41min.7sec; 2, T Toutain
(Fra) 3-43.52; 3, G Perricelli (Italy) 3-43.55; 4, J-A Garcia (Spain)
3-45.25; 5, R Korzeniowski (Pol)
3-45.57; 6, G Skurygin (Rus) 3-46.30; 7, V Kononen (Fin) 3-47.14; 8, A
Plotnikov (Rus) 3-47.43; 9, P Blazek (Slovakia) 3-49.44; 10, A Noack
(Ger) 3-50-32.
Decathlon -- 1, A Blondel (Fra) 8453pts; 2, H Dagard (Swe) 8362; 3, L
Lobodin (Ukr) 8201; 4, C Plaziat (Fra) 8127; 5, S Schmid (Ger) 8109; 6,
S Munkacsi (Hun) 8071; 7, T Dvorak (Czech) 8065; 8, D Szabo (Hun) 7995;
9, V Kolpakov (Ukr) 7987; 10, E Nool (Est) 7953.
Shot -- 1, A Klimenko (Ukr) 20.78m; 2, A Bagach (Ukr) 20.34; 3, R
Virastyuk (Ukr) 19.59; 4, M Halvari (Fin) 19.52; 5, M Koistinen (Fin)
19.51; 6, D Peric (Yug) 19.40; 7, P Gudmundsson (Ice) 19.34; 8, P Dal
Soglio (Italy) 19.15; 9, T Herbrand (Ger) 19.10; 10, S Kleiza (Lith)
18.80.
Triple jump -- 1, D Kapustin (Rus) 17.62m; 2, S Helan (Fra) 17.55; 3,
M Bruziks (Latvia) 17.20; 4, V Sokov (Rus) 16.97; 5, G Markov (Rus)
16.89; 6, J Edwards (GB) 16.85; 7, G Sainte-Rose (Fra) 16.59; 8, A
Raizgys (Lith) 16.59; 9, J Golley (GB) 16.35; 10, M Mikulas (Cze) 16.29.
0 4x100m -- 1, France (H Lomba, D Sangouma, J-C Trouabal, E Perrot)
38.57sec; 2, Ukraine (S Osovich, D Vanyaikin, O Kramarenko, V Dologodin)
38.98; 3, Italy (E Madonia, D Nettis, G Marras, S Floris) 38.99; 4,
Sweden (P Karlsson, M Ghansah, L Hedner, T Eriksson) 39.05.
Women. 4x100m -- 1, Germany (M Paschke, B Zipp, S Knoll, S
Lichtenhagen) 42.90; 2, Russia (N Anisimova, G Malchugina, M
Trandenkova, I Privalova) 42.96; 3, Bulgaria (D Dimitrova, A Nuneva, S
Dimitrova, P Pendareva) 43.00; 4, Ukraine (A Slyusar, V Fomenko, I
Slyusar, Z Tarnopolskaya) 43.61; 5, Gt Britain (S Douglas, K Merry, S
Jacobs, P Thomas) 43.63; 6, Holland (C Elissen, J Poelman, K De Lange, M
Bogaards) 43.81; 7, Finland (A Pirttimaa, T Leveelahti, S Hernesniemi, M
Salmela) 43.96.
10,000m -- 1, F Ribeiro (Por) 31min.08.75sec; 2, C Ferreira (Por)
31-32.82; 3, D Nauer (Swi) 31-35.96; 4, K Wessel (Ger) 31-38.75; 5, C
Misaros (Rom) 31-41.03; 6, M Guida (Italy) 31-42.14; 7, F Marques (Por)
31-53.12; 8, K Kashapova (Rus) 31-55.99; 9, C Lokar (Ger) 32-08.74; 10,
M Renders (Bel) 32-11.18. Did not finish -- C McKiernan (Ire).
YESTERDAY
Men. Marathon -- 1, M Fiz (Spain) 2hr 10min.31sec; 2, D Garcia (Spain)
2-10.46; 3, A Juzdado (Spain) 2-11.18; 4, R Nerurkar (GB) 2-11.56; 5, L
Di Lello (Italy) 2-12.41; 6, A Rodrigues (Por) 2-12.43; 7, M Matias
(Por) 2-12.48; 8, H Hanninen (Fin) 2-13.21; 9, A Pinto (Por) 2-13.24;
10, D Chauvelier (Fra) 2-13.30; 11, N Sobhi (Fra) 2-13.43; 12, O
Strizhakov (Rus) 2-14.23, 13, J Huruk (Pol) 2-14.27; 14, K Dobler (Ger)
2-14.28; 15, K Stenzel (Ger) 2-14.34; 16, B Devic (Yugo) 2-14.41; 17, G
Gajdus (Pol) 2-14.55; 18, B Le Stum (Fra) 2-14.57; 19, R Wachenbrunner
(Ger) 2-15.11; 20, Y Tolstikov (Rus) 2-15.32; 21, J-L Assemat (Fra)
2-15.36; 22, D Kremer (Isr) 2-15.45; 23, J Silva (Por) 2-16.04; 24, T
Naess (Nor) 2-16.10; 25, R Alliegro (Italy) 2-16.16; 26, V Bukhanov
(Ukr) 2-16.34; 27, P Whitehead (GB) 2-16.40; 28, M Ten Kate (Hol)
2-16.48; 29, L Andervang (Swe) 2-16.59; 30, W Durbano (Italy) 2-17.09;
31, W Foster (GB) 2-17.12; 32, A Pena (Spain) 2-17.19; 33, E
Tukhbatullin (Rus) 2-17.26; 34, W Perszke (Pol) 2-17.35; 35, C Eich
(Ger) 2-17.54; 36, B Leger (Fra) 2-18.33.
5000m -- 1, D Baumann (Ger) 13min.36.93sec; 2, R Denmark (GB)
13-37.50; 3, A Anton (Spain) 13-38.04; 4, A Behar (Fra) 13-38.36; 5, J
Nuttall (GB) 13-38.65; 6, J C Adan (Spain) 13-39.16; 7, R Ulmala (Fin)
13-40.84; 8, A Jimenez (Spain) 13-41.60; 9, D Castro (Por) 13-42.09; 10,
S Franke (Ger) 13-45.67.
4 x 400m final -- Britain 2-59.13; 2, France 3-01.11; 3, Russia
3-03.10; 4, Italy 3-03.46; 5, Germany 3-04.15; 6, Poland 3-04.22; 7,
Finland 3-04.55.
800m -- 1, A Benvenuti (Italy) 1min.46.12sec; 2, V Rodal (Nor)
1-46.53; 3, T De Teresa (Spain) 1-46.57; 4, N Motchebon (Ger) 1-46.65;
5, G D'Urso (Italy) 1-46.90; 6, C Winrow (GB) 1-47.09; 7, J Cerezo
(Spain) 1-47.58; 8, A Douglas (Nor) 1-47.90.
Discus -- V Dubrovshchik (Belarus) 64.78m; 2, D Shevchenko (Rus)
64.56; 3, J Schult (Ger) 64.18; 4, N Sweeney (Ire) 63.76; 5, A Horvath
(Hun) 63.60; 6, V Zinchenko (Ukr) 63.60; 7, S-I Valvik (Nor) 62.02; 8, C
Grasu (Rom) 61.40; 9, S Lyakhov (Rus) 60.80; 10, A Seelig (Ger) 59.26;
11, S Lukashok (Isr) 57.60. Did not start -- L Riedel (Ger).
Women. 1500m -- 1, L Rogachova (Rus) 4-18.93; 2, K Holmes (GB)
4-19.30; 3, Y Podkopayeva (Rus) 4-19.37; 4, M Zuniga (Spain) 4-19.77; 5,
L Kremlyova (Rus) 4-19.77; 6, M Rydz (Pol) 4-19.80; 7, C Sacramento
(Por) 4-20.62; 8, E Kiessling (Ger) 4-20.79; 9, A Brzezinska (Pol)
4-20.89; 10, M Akraka (Swe) 4-21.83; 11, B Bitzner (Fra) 4-22.64; 12, G
Nolan (Ire) 4-23.59.
4x400m -- France 3min.22.34sec; 2, Russia 3-24.06; 3, Germany 3-24.10;
4, Gt Britain 3-24.14; 5, Czech Republic 3-27.95; 6, Switzerland
3-28.78; 7, Poland 3-29.75.
High jump -- 1, B Bilac (Slovenia) 2.00m; 2, Y Gulyayeva (Rus) 1.96;
3, N Zilinskiene (Lith) 1.93; 4, I Babakova (Ukr) 1.93; 5, H Haugland
(Nor) 1.93; 6, H Balck (Ger) 1.93; 7, S Leseva (Bul) and Y Topchina
(Rus) 1.90; 9, T Shevchik (Belarus) 1.90; 10, S Kirchmann (Aut) 1.90;
11, H Henkel (Ger) and Z Kovacikova (Czech) 1.85.
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