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Helsinki - Renaud Lavillenie of France scaled a world-leading 5.97m to retain his pole vault title at the European Championships on Sunday, beating a top-class field he will face again at the London Olympics.
Lavillenie was one jump away from losing his hold on the European title after two misses at 5.82, but he responded brilliantly.
"From my second attempt at 5.82, I started to believe I could win this. A great result and an unbelievable competition," Lavillenie said.
Bjoern Otto of Germany vaulted a personal best of 5.92 to stay with the Frenchman, but failed three times at 6.02 to take the title.
"It was quiet a battle today at the end," Otto said.
In the best competition of the five-day championships, Raphael Holzdeppe of Germany took bronze with 5.77.
The event had the top five performers of 2012 in the line-up, and the top two went higher than the year's previous best of 5.91.
While everybody had been counting on Christophe Lemaitre of France capturing a sprint double after winning the 100 on Thursday, it was Churandy Martina of the Netherlands who added the 4x100 relay title to his 200 gold.
"Both gold medals are really important, personal and relay," Martina said.
Martina ran a strong second leg against Lemaitre and 200 silver medallists Patrick van Luijk finished it off for the surprise victory. Favourite Britain dropped the baton on the first changeover between Christian Malcolm and Dwain Chambers.
"I'll take responsibility," Malcolm said. "It's my job to get the baton over to Dwain and I couldn't quite get it in."
In the women's 4x100, the favourite Ukrainians also botched the changeover, leaving Germany to take gold ahead of the Netherlands and Poland.
Sebastian Bayer's win in the long jump lifted Germany atop the gold medal standings with six, one more than France and Russia.
After Lavillenie gave France its last gold, Sergey Shubenkov followed it up in the 100 hurdles for Russia.
In an extremely open championships in which many of the top stars were no shows because of the upcoming Olympics, Ukraine ended up with the most medals overall - 17, of which four were gold.
Germany had 16, and Russia 15.
Results on Sunday at the European athletics championships in Helsinki Olympic Stadium (all distances in metres):
Men
1,500 - 1, Henrik Ingebrigtsen, Norway, 3:46.20. 2, Florian Carvalho, France, 3:46.33. 3, David Bustos, Spain, 3:46.45. 4, Helio Gomes, Portugal, 3:46.50. 5, Bartosz Nowicki, Poland, 3:46.69. 6, Dmitrijs Jurkevics, Latvia, 3:47.36. 7, Goran Nava, Serbia, 3:47.74. 8, Abdellah Haidane, Italy, 3:47.79.
110 Hurdles - 1, Sergey Shubenkov, Russia, 13.16. 2, Garfield Darien, France, 13.20. 3, Artur Noga, Poland, 13.27. 4, Alexander John, Germany, 13.38. 5, Emanuele Abate, Italy, 13.43. 6, Gregory Sedoc, Netherlands, 13.45. 7, Philip Nossmy, Sweden, 13.59. 8, Konstadinos Douvalidis, Greece, 13.59.
4x100 - 1, Netherlands, 38.34. 2, Germany, 38.44. 3, France, 38.46. 4, Russia, 38.67. 5, Switzerland, 38.83. 6, Portugal, 39.96. Czech Republic DNF, Britain DNF.
4x400 - 1, Belgium, 3:01.09. 2, Britain, 3:01.56. 3, Germany, 3:01.77. 4, Poland, 3:02.37. 5, Czech Republic, 3:02.72. 6, France, 3:03.04. 7, Ukraine, 3:04.56. 8, Netherlands, 3:05.68.
Long Jump - Sebastian Bayer, Germany, 8.34. 2, Luis Felipe Meliz, Spain, 8.21. 3, Michel Torneus, Sweden, 8.17. 4, Jj Jegede, Britain, 8.10. 5, Eusebio Caceres, Spain, 8.06. 6, Roni Ollikainen, Finland, 8.05. 7, Marcos Chuva, Portugal, 7.92. 8, Tomasz Jaszczuk, Poland, 7.90.
Pole Vault - 1, Renaud Lavillenie, France, 5.97. 2, Bjoern Otto, Germany 5.92. 3, Raphael Holzdeppe, Germany, 5.77. 4, Malte Mohr, Germany, 5.77. 5, Konstadinos Filippidis, Greece, 5.72. 6, Jan Kudlicka, Czech Republic, 5.60. 7, Rasmus Jorgensen, Denmark, 5.50. 8, Maksym Mazuryk, Ukraine, 5.40.
Women
1,500 - 1, Asli Cakir-Alptekin, Turkey, 4:05.31. 2, Gamze Bulut, Turkey, 4:06.04. 3, Anna Mishchenko, Ukraine, 4:07.74. 4, Yekaterina Gorbunova, Russia, 4:08.63. 5, Nuria Fernandez, Spain, 4:08.80. 6, Diana Sujew, Germany, 4:09.28. 7, Tereza Capkova, Czech Republic, 4:10.17. 8, Kristina Khaleyeva, Russia, 4:10.26.
10,000 - 1, Dulce Felix, Portugal, 31:44.75. 2, Jo Pavey, Britain, 31:49.03. 3, Olha Skrypak, Ukraine, 31:51.32. 4, Fionnuala Britton, Ireland, 32:05.54. 5, Sabrina Mockenhaupt, Germany, 32:16.55. 6, Charlotte Purdue, Britain, 32:28.46. 7, Ana Dias, Portugal, 32:35.82. 8, Elena Romagnolo, Italy, 32:42.31.
4x100 - 1, Germany,42.51. 2, Netherlands, 42.80. 3, Poland, 43.06. 4, Russia, 43.37. 5, France, 43.44. 6, Switzerland, 43.61. 7, Belarus, 44.06. Ukraine DNF.
4x400 - Ukraine, 3:25.07. 2, France, 3:25.49. 3, Czech Republic, 3:26.02. 4, Britain, 3:26.20. 5, Germany, 3:27.81. 6, Russia, 3:28.36. 7, Romania, 3:29.80. 8, Poland, 3:30.17.
Discus - 1, Sandra Perkovic, Croatia, 67.62. 2, Nadine Mueller, Germany, 65.41. 3, Nataliya Semenova, Ukraine, 62.91. 4, Anna Rueh, Germany, 62.65. 5, Julia Fischer, Germany, 62.10. 6, Melina Robert-Michon, France, 60.41. 7, Vera Cechlova, Czech Republic 60.08. 8, Natalia Artic, Moldova, 58.64.
Hammer - 1, Anita Wlodarczyk, Poland, 74.29. 2, Martina Hrasnova, Slovakia, 73.34. 3, Anna Bulgakova, Russia, 71.47. 4, Kathrin Klaas, Germany, 70.44. 5, Tugce Sahutoglu, Turkey, 70.21. 6, Stephanie Falzon, France, 68.03. 7, Eva Orban, Hungary, 67.92. 8, Zalina Marghieva, Moldova, 67.92.
Lavillenie was one jump away from losing his hold on the European title after two misses at 5.82, but he responded brilliantly.
"From my second attempt at 5.82, I started to believe I could win this. A great result and an unbelievable competition," Lavillenie said.
Bjoern Otto of Germany vaulted a personal best of 5.92 to stay with the Frenchman, but failed three times at 6.02 to take the title.
"It was quiet a battle today at the end," Otto said.
In the best competition of the five-day championships, Raphael Holzdeppe of Germany took bronze with 5.77.
The event had the top five performers of 2012 in the line-up, and the top two went higher than the year's previous best of 5.91.
While everybody had been counting on Christophe Lemaitre of France capturing a sprint double after winning the 100 on Thursday, it was Churandy Martina of the Netherlands who added the 4x100 relay title to his 200 gold.
"Both gold medals are really important, personal and relay," Martina said.
Martina ran a strong second leg against Lemaitre and 200 silver medallists Patrick van Luijk finished it off for the surprise victory. Favourite Britain dropped the baton on the first changeover between Christian Malcolm and Dwain Chambers.
"I'll take responsibility," Malcolm said. "It's my job to get the baton over to Dwain and I couldn't quite get it in."
In the women's 4x100, the favourite Ukrainians also botched the changeover, leaving Germany to take gold ahead of the Netherlands and Poland.
Sebastian Bayer's win in the long jump lifted Germany atop the gold medal standings with six, one more than France and Russia.
After Lavillenie gave France its last gold, Sergey Shubenkov followed it up in the 100 hurdles for Russia.
In an extremely open championships in which many of the top stars were no shows because of the upcoming Olympics, Ukraine ended up with the most medals overall - 17, of which four were gold.
Germany had 16, and Russia 15.
Results on Sunday at the European athletics championships in Helsinki Olympic Stadium (all distances in metres):
Men
1,500 - 1, Henrik Ingebrigtsen, Norway, 3:46.20. 2, Florian Carvalho, France, 3:46.33. 3, David Bustos, Spain, 3:46.45. 4, Helio Gomes, Portugal, 3:46.50. 5, Bartosz Nowicki, Poland, 3:46.69. 6, Dmitrijs Jurkevics, Latvia, 3:47.36. 7, Goran Nava, Serbia, 3:47.74. 8, Abdellah Haidane, Italy, 3:47.79.
110 Hurdles - 1, Sergey Shubenkov, Russia, 13.16. 2, Garfield Darien, France, 13.20. 3, Artur Noga, Poland, 13.27. 4, Alexander John, Germany, 13.38. 5, Emanuele Abate, Italy, 13.43. 6, Gregory Sedoc, Netherlands, 13.45. 7, Philip Nossmy, Sweden, 13.59. 8, Konstadinos Douvalidis, Greece, 13.59.
4x100 - 1, Netherlands, 38.34. 2, Germany, 38.44. 3, France, 38.46. 4, Russia, 38.67. 5, Switzerland, 38.83. 6, Portugal, 39.96. Czech Republic DNF, Britain DNF.
4x400 - 1, Belgium, 3:01.09. 2, Britain, 3:01.56. 3, Germany, 3:01.77. 4, Poland, 3:02.37. 5, Czech Republic, 3:02.72. 6, France, 3:03.04. 7, Ukraine, 3:04.56. 8, Netherlands, 3:05.68.
Long Jump - Sebastian Bayer, Germany, 8.34. 2, Luis Felipe Meliz, Spain, 8.21. 3, Michel Torneus, Sweden, 8.17. 4, Jj Jegede, Britain, 8.10. 5, Eusebio Caceres, Spain, 8.06. 6, Roni Ollikainen, Finland, 8.05. 7, Marcos Chuva, Portugal, 7.92. 8, Tomasz Jaszczuk, Poland, 7.90.
Pole Vault - 1, Renaud Lavillenie, France, 5.97. 2, Bjoern Otto, Germany 5.92. 3, Raphael Holzdeppe, Germany, 5.77. 4, Malte Mohr, Germany, 5.77. 5, Konstadinos Filippidis, Greece, 5.72. 6, Jan Kudlicka, Czech Republic, 5.60. 7, Rasmus Jorgensen, Denmark, 5.50. 8, Maksym Mazuryk, Ukraine, 5.40.
Women
1,500 - 1, Asli Cakir-Alptekin, Turkey, 4:05.31. 2, Gamze Bulut, Turkey, 4:06.04. 3, Anna Mishchenko, Ukraine, 4:07.74. 4, Yekaterina Gorbunova, Russia, 4:08.63. 5, Nuria Fernandez, Spain, 4:08.80. 6, Diana Sujew, Germany, 4:09.28. 7, Tereza Capkova, Czech Republic, 4:10.17. 8, Kristina Khaleyeva, Russia, 4:10.26.
10,000 - 1, Dulce Felix, Portugal, 31:44.75. 2, Jo Pavey, Britain, 31:49.03. 3, Olha Skrypak, Ukraine, 31:51.32. 4, Fionnuala Britton, Ireland, 32:05.54. 5, Sabrina Mockenhaupt, Germany, 32:16.55. 6, Charlotte Purdue, Britain, 32:28.46. 7, Ana Dias, Portugal, 32:35.82. 8, Elena Romagnolo, Italy, 32:42.31.
4x100 - 1, Germany,42.51. 2, Netherlands, 42.80. 3, Poland, 43.06. 4, Russia, 43.37. 5, France, 43.44. 6, Switzerland, 43.61. 7, Belarus, 44.06. Ukraine DNF.
4x400 - Ukraine, 3:25.07. 2, France, 3:25.49. 3, Czech Republic, 3:26.02. 4, Britain, 3:26.20. 5, Germany, 3:27.81. 6, Russia, 3:28.36. 7, Romania, 3:29.80. 8, Poland, 3:30.17.
Discus - 1, Sandra Perkovic, Croatia, 67.62. 2, Nadine Mueller, Germany, 65.41. 3, Nataliya Semenova, Ukraine, 62.91. 4, Anna Rueh, Germany, 62.65. 5, Julia Fischer, Germany, 62.10. 6, Melina Robert-Michon, France, 60.41. 7, Vera Cechlova, Czech Republic 60.08. 8, Natalia Artic, Moldova, 58.64.
Hammer - 1, Anita Wlodarczyk, Poland, 74.29. 2, Martina Hrasnova, Slovakia, 73.34. 3, Anna Bulgakova, Russia, 71.47. 4, Kathrin Klaas, Germany, 70.44. 5, Tugce Sahutoglu, Turkey, 70.21. 6, Stephanie Falzon, France, 68.03. 7, Eva Orban, Hungary, 67.92. 8, Zalina Marghieva, Moldova, 67.92.
