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Lemaitre wins chaotic race

Helsinki - Christophe Lemaitre of France successfully defended his 100m title at the European Championships in a chaotic race on Thursday. Only five of the eight finalists crossed the line.

Lemaitre beat compatriot Jimmy Vicaut into silver. Norway's Jaysuma Saidy Ndure took bronze.

After two false starts in which only Simone Collio of Italy was eliminated, Ronalds Arajs of Latvia fell with an apparent injury near the end and Rytis Sakalauskas of Lithuania failed to get properly out of the blocks.

In 15-degree (59 F) weather, on a damp track and into a headwind, Lemaitre timed 10.09 seconds, .03 ahead of Vicaut.

Two years ago, Lemaitre won a sprint triple at the championships, but decided against running the 200 here so as not to exert himself ahead of next month's Olympics.

Lemaitre will go for a second gold during the weekend sprint relays.

Ivet Lalova of Bulgaria won the women's 100, the first gold in her quest for a sprint double.

Lalova ran down Olesya Povh of Ukraine and Lina Grincikaite of Lithuania at the line. Because of the cold and dampness at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium, Lalova's time was a disappointing 11.28 seconds, well off the European record of 10.73.

"The race was tough. The weather is not good for sprinting," Lalova said.

She's also favored for the 200, which has the first heats on Friday.

In the women 5,000, Russia got its first gold when Olga Golovkina swept from third to first in the finishing straight to beat Ukraine's Lyudmyla Kovalenko and Portugal's Sara Moreira.

Results on Thursday at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki Olympic Stadium:

Men

100-1, Christophe Lemaitre, France, 10.09. 2, Jimmy Vicaut, France, 10.12. 3, Jaysuma Saidy Ndure, Norway, 10.17. 4, Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, Britain, 10.31. 5, Serhiy Smelyk, Ukraine, 10.34. 6, Ronalds Arajs, Latvia, DNF; Rytis Sakalauskas, Lithuania, DNF. Simone Collio, Italy, DQ.

Javelin-1, Vitezslav Vesely, Czech Republic, 83.72. 2, Valeriy Iordan, Russia, 83.23. 3, Ari Mannio, Finland, 82.63. 4, Andreas Thorkildsen, Norway, 81.55. 5, Oleksandr Pyatnytsya, Ukraine, 81.41. 6, Igor Janik, Poland, 81.21. 7, Kim Amb, Sweden, 79.03. 8, Gabriel Wallin, Sweden, 77.18.

Decathlon-1, Pascal Behrenbruch, Germany, 8,558 points 2, Oleksiy Kasyanov, Ukraine, 8,321. 3, Ilya Shkurenyov, Russia, 8,219. 4, Mihail Dudas, Serbia, 8,154. 5, Gael Querin, France, 8,098. 6, Roman Sebrle, Czech Republic, 8,052. 7, Norman Mueller, Germany, 8,003. 8, Adam Helcelet, Czech Republic, 7,998.

Women

100-1, Ivet Lalova, Bulgaria, 11.28. 2, Olesya Povh, Ukraine, 11.32. 3, Lina Grincikaite, Lithuania, 11.32. 4, Ezinne Okparaebo, Norway, 11.39. 5, Olga Belkina, Russia, 11.42. 6, Verena Sailer, Germany, 11.42. 7, Anne Cibis, Germany, 11.54. 8, Tatjana Lofamakanda Pinto, Germany 11.62.

5,000-1, Olga Golovkina, Russia, 15:11.70. 2, Lyudmyla Kovalenko, Ukraine, 15:12.03. 3, Sara Moreira, Portugal, 15:12.05. 4, Julia Bleasdale, Britain, 15:12.77. 5, Roxana Barca, Romania, 15:13.40. 6, Nadia Ejjafini, Italy, 15:16.54. 7, Svetlana Kireyeva, Russia, 15:19.55. 8, Almensh Belete, Belgium, 15:22.15.

High Jump-1, Ruth Beitia, Spain, 1.97. 2, Tonje Angelsen, Norway, 1.97. 3 (tie), Irina Gordeyeva, Russia, Emma Green Tregaro, Sweden, Olena Holosha, Ukraine, 1.92. 6 (tie), Burcu Ayhan, Turkey, Melanie Melfort, France, 1.92. 8, Mirela Demireva, Bulgaria, 1.92.

Long Jump-1, Eloyse Lesueur, France, 6.81. 2, Volha Sudarava, Belarus, 6.74. 3, Margrethe Renstrom, Norway, 6.67. 4, Sosthene Taroum Moguenara, Germany, 6.66. 5, Karen Melis Mey, Turkey, 6.63. 6, Ineta Radevica, Latvia, 6.55. 7, Irene Pusterla, Switzerland, 6.53. 8, Melanie Bauschke, Germany, 6.50.

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