Lithuania's Zivile Balciunaite put previous European misery behind her as she came out on top in punishing heat in Barcelona to win gold in Saturday's women's marathon. The 31-year-old just missed out on a medal four years ago in Gothenburg but having targeted the European Championships all season, not even the high temperatures could stop her taking gold.
The veteran competitor was able to maintain her tempo in the second half of the race to finish in a time of 2hr 31min 14sec. Russia's Nailya Yulamanova and Italy's Anna Incerti took silver and bronze respectively. Elsewhere Briton Jessica Ennis is on-course to add the European heptathlon title to her world indoor and outdoor titles.
The 24-year-old, who missed the last Olympics through injury, has won almost everything else in her sights. Before coming to Barcelona she had already had a good season and unsurprisingly led the European standings. With just two events to go, Ennis is leading the table with a score of 5065 points, having come third in the long jump competition behind the two Germans, Jennifer Oeser and Claudia Rath. Ahead just remain the Javelin and the 800m.
France raced into the final of the 4x100m relay without even calling on their double European champion Christophe Lemaitre. The 100m and 200m gold medal winner was rested and it was left to Martial Mbandjock, bronze medal winner in the 100m, to run France home in a time of 39.12secs.
Germany qualified in first place but the big surprise was the elimination of Great Britain, who were expected to challenge France for gold. Despite being without Dwain Chambers, who was not selected as Britain build a team for the Olympics, they still had a strong squad including 100m silver medallist Mark Lewis Francis, but a poor handover involving Marlon Devonish and him saw them lose valuable time.
France are also among the contenders for the women's 100m relay but Russia, with their enviable strength in depth qualified in first place for the final It was Germany's turn to make a mess of the final handover as the baton fell before it reached the hands of 100m gold medal winner Verena Sailer. Slovenia, including the legendary athlete Merlene Ottey, now aged 50, also failed to qualify.
Britain are the team to beat in the 4x400m relay and they secured first place in qualification without their medal winners in the individual event, Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney, who were rested. In the women's event a clean sweep of the medals by Russia in the 400m demonstrated their dominance and they comfortably qualified for the final in a time of 3:26.89.
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