Schippers bags second gold, Poland get treble

AFP, AMSTERDAM: Dafne Schippers ran a blistering second leg to help her Dutch quartet to European 4x100m relay gold on Sunday as Poland saved their best for last by nailing treble gold to top the medals table.
Schippers, who claimed 100m gold on Friday, proved the difference after taking the baton from Jamile Samuel and crushing all rivals on the far back straight of Amsterdam’s packed-out Olympic Stadium.
Teammates Tessa van Schagen and Naomi Sedney safely negotiated the baton passes to come through the finish line in 42.04sec, Britain taking silver (42.45) and Germany bronze (42.48).
“In finals before we have made some mistakes and had some bad handovers, but we knew we could do this,” said Schippers, who set the Beijing world championships alight last year with victory in a third-fastest time ever of 21.63sec in the 200m which she did not race in Amsterdam.
“It’s a very good time and a national record. Now we are ready for more, for Rio. We always want more.”
There was a similarly impressive outing from the British men, James Dasaolu, Adam Gemili, James Ellington and Chijindu Ujah blasting to an impressive 38.17sec, an outstanding anchor leg by Europe’s fastest man Jimmy Vicaut ensuring France silver ahead of Germany.
“We’re happy to go away with the gold,” said Ellington. “Everyone’s running fast in our team, so the only difficulty is to select the right team because we have so many good runners right now.”
It was a day to remember for the Polish team, who ended up atop the medals table with six gold, five silver and one bronze in a 12-medal haul. Germany and Britain both won 16 medals, but only five golds.
First up for Poland was reigning two-time world champion Pawel Fajdek, who dominated the hammer throw, his best of 80.93m easily enough for gold ahead of Belarus’ Ivan Tikhon (78.84), with another Pole, Wojciech Nowicki, taking bronze (77.53).
Then came Angelicka Cichocka’s victory in the women’s 1500m before defending champion Adam Kszczot and Marcin Lewandowski made it a one-two in the men’s 800m.
There was a third consecutive European shot put title for David Storl, the German managing a best of 21.31m to beat off Poland’s Michal Haratyk (21.19).
And there was a dramatic climax to the women’s triple jump, Portugal’s Patricia Mamona’s final effort of 14.58m sealing victory from Israel’s Ukraine-born Hanna Minenko by 7cm.
There was also an unusual end to the men’s 5000m, the relatively slow pace working to a crescendo on the final lap.
After criticism of Turkey for its medal-winning foreign-born athletes, it was the turn of two Moroccans naturalised to race for Spain, Ilias Fifa and Adel Mechaal, to take gold and silver.
Germany’s Richard Ringer claimed bronze with all three podium finishers credited with the same time of 13:40.85 in a photo finish.
In other results, Italian world indoor champion Gianmarco Tamberi won the men’s high jump with 2.32m, Denmark’s Sara Slott Petersen won the women’s 400m hurdles in 55.12sec, and British women and Belgian men won their respective 4x400m relays.

Schippers bags second gold, Poland get treble

AFP, AMSTERDAM: Dafne Schippers ran a blistering second leg to help her Dutch quartet to European 4x100m relay gold on Sunday as Poland saved their best for last by nailing treble gold to top the medals table. Schippers, who claimed 100m gold on Friday, proved the difference after taking the baton from Jamile Samuel and crushing all rivals on the far back straight of Amsterdams packed-out Olympic Stadium. Teammates Tessa van Schagen and Naomi Sedney safely negotiated the baton passes to come through the finish line in 42.04sec, Britain taking silver (42.45) and Germany bronze (42.48). In finals before we have made some mistakes and had some bad handovers, but we knew we could do this, said Schippers, who set the Beijing world championships alight last year with victory in a third-fastest time ever of 21.63sec in the 200m which she did not race in Amsterdam. Its a very good time and a national record. Now we are ready for more, for Rio. We always want more. There was a similarly impressive outing from the British men, James Dasaolu, Adam Gemili, James Ellington and Chijindu Ujah blasting to an impressive 38.17sec, an outstanding anchor leg by Europes fastest man Jimmy Vicaut ensuring France silver ahead of Germany. Were happy to go away with the gold, said Ellington. Everyones running fast in our team, so the only difficulty is to select the right team because we have so many good runners right now. It was a day to remember for the Polish team, who ended up atop the medals table with six gold, five silver and one bronze in a 12-medal haul. Germany and Britain both won 16 medals, but only five golds. First up for Poland was reigning two-time world champion Pawel Fajdek, who dominated the hammer throw, his best of 80.93m easily enough for gold ahead of Belarus Ivan Tikhon (78.84), with another Pole, Wojciech Nowicki, taking bronze (77.53). Then came Angelicka Cichockas victory in the womens 1500m before defending champion Adam Kszczot and Marcin Lewandowski made it a one-two in the mens 800m. There was a third consecutive European shot put title for David Storl, the German managing a best of 21.31m to beat off Polands Michal Haratyk (21.19). And there was a dramatic climax to the womens triple jump, Portugals Patricia Mamonas final effort of 14.58m sealing victory from Israels Ukraine-born Hanna Minenko by 7cm. There was also an unusual end to the mens 5000m, the relatively slow pace working to a crescendo on the final lap. After criticism of Turkey for its medal-winning foreign-born athletes, it was the turn of two Moroccans naturalised to race for Spain, Ilias Fifa and Adel Mechaal, to take gold and silver. Germanys Richard Ringer claimed bronze with all three podium finishers credited with the same time of 13:40.85 in a photo finish. In other results, Italian world indoor champion Gianmarco Tamberi won the mens high jump with 2.32m, Denmarks Sara Slott Petersen won the womens 400m hurdles in 55.12sec, and British women and Belgian men won their respective 4x400m relays.