Christophe Lemaitre's fairytale European championship continued when he completed a sprint double on Friday and the Olympic stadium finally came to life as the hosts celebrated their first medals. Spain had to wait a little bit longer than anticipated for their first gold of the championships when Russian Yuliya Zarudneva spoilt the script by beating world champion and home favourite Marta Dominguez in the steeplechase final.
Zarudneva went to the front from the gun with Dominguez, wearing her trademark pink headband with matching running shoes, shadowing her. The noise from the half-full stadium was deafening, as the crowd urged Dominguez to victory but the world silver medallist gained revenge for her defeat in Berlin last year, pulling clear off the final water jump to win in 9:17.57. The Spanish flag-waving and cheering was finally rewarded in the last race of the evening when an astonished Arturo Casado finished strongly to take the 1,500 title in 3:42.74. Manuel Olmedo took bronze with German Carsten Schlangen splitting the two Spaniards.