Lebedeva earns last-gasp victory

Lebedeva says she has now set her sights on the world record

Russian Tatyana Lebedeva took triple jump gold with her very last jump at the European Championships.

Lebedeva landed a championship record 15.15 metres to eclipse Greek Hrisopiyi Devetzi's jump of 15.05m while Russian Anna Pyatykh took bronze with 15.02m.

Russian Andrey Silnov hit new heights to win the high jump in a championship record 2.36m as Swedish Olympic champion Stefan Holm came third.

Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen took the javelin crown with 88.78m.

It was a great fight and a great day for me Tatyana Lebedeva

The Norwegian took control of the competition with his second-round throw of 87.37m but eclipsed his own mark with a huge final throw.

Finland's Tero Pitkamaki wrapped up silver with a mark of 86.44m while 40-year-old three-time Olympic champion Jan Zelezny rolled back the years to take bronze with 85.92m.

Zelezny's mark was also a new over-40s world record and he said: "I showed them I can still throw with the younger boys."

Lebedeva also gathered more silverware in Gothenburg, adding the European gold to her Olympic long jump crown and her Olympic silver (2000) and bronze (2004) triple jump medals.

"It was a great fight and a great day for me," said Lebedeva.

"I decided to risk my last jump and said to myself 'I do not care whether it is better or not'.

"I now have the full collection of medals so it is a special gold."

Silnov improved his personal best by four centimetres

The Swedish fans let out a groan of disappointment as Holm had to settle for high jump bronze on home turf.

Silnov cleared 2.34m at the first attempt to put pressure on the field. Czech Tomas Janku followed suit with his second jump with Holm clearing at the third attempt.

The bar was then raised to 2.36m but only Silnov sailed over and Janku took silver ahead of Holm on the countback.

"Everthing was in place, my run-up, technique and speed," said Silnov. "I will do everything I can now to attack 2.40m."

Belarussian Ryta Turava lived up to her favourite tag by claiming gold in the 20km walk in one hour 27.08 seconds.

Olga Kaniskina, the world number one, came home one minute 27 seconds later to take the silver while Italian Elisa Rigaudo took bronze in a season's best 1:28.37.