Britain on top in Budapest

Sonia O'Sullivan celebrates her 5000m triumph

Men's Medal Table 1998

Women's Medal Table 1998

Hungary played host to a memorable 17th European Athletics Championships in 1998.

And Great Britain and Northern Ireland enjoyed their best showing at the championships with nine golds and plenty of magic moments.

An almost complete domination in the men's sprint events helped athletes from the home nations top the medal table.

Darren Campbell (100m) and Dougie Walker (200m) were among those to grab the headlines, while Iwan Thomas continued his magnificent year in the 400m.

Denise Lewis ensured the women were not left out, clinching the heptathlon title.

Photo gallery: Brits in Budapest

But there was a lot more to Budapest than British success.

The crowds at the Nepstadion were treated to some top class action on both the track and field.

Sonia O'Sullivan secured a sensational double in the 5,000m and 10,000m to go with her 3,000m gold from Helsinki in 1994.

And Heike Drechsler turned back the clock again to clinch her fourth European long jump title. British-born Italian Fiona May had to settle for silver.

Balakhonova took pole vault gold

The women's pole vault was staged at the championships for the first time - and a classic final ensued.

Anzhela Balakhonova, Nicole Rieger-Humbert and Yvonne Buschbaum all finished on the same height of 4.31m so the medals were decided on the countback rule, Balakhonova clinching gold.

In the men's events, the 400m hurdles was the only sprint event, individual or relay, not to be won by a British runner - Poland's Pawel Januszewski taking gold.

The marathon saw Italy repeat Spain's feat of a 1-2-3 in 1994; Stefano Baldini leading compatriots Danilo Goffi and Vincenzo Modica home.

Antonio Pinto had turned his attention away from the 26-mile road-race and his decision paid off in the 10,000m as he clinched his first track title.

Photo gallery: Action from Budapest

Current 800m World Champion Andre Buchler was stuck in the middle of his silver medal spree - he picked up five before winning a major - finishing behind Nils Schumann over two laps.

Spain's Reyes Estevez made his mark in the 1500m while Erki Nool won his first senior decathlon title.

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Men's Medal Table 1998
Event	Winner	Result
100m	Darren Campbell (Gbr)	10.04sec
200m	Dougie Walker (Gbr)	20.53sec
400m	Iwan Thomas (Gbr)	44.52sec
800m	Nils Schumann (Ger)	1:44.89
1500m	Reyes Estevez (Spa)	3: 41.31
5,000m	Isaac Viciosa (Spa)	13:37.46
10,000m	Antonio Pinto (Por)	27:48.62
Marathon	Stefano Baldini (Ita)	2:12.01
110m Hurdles	Colin Jackson (Gbr)	13.02sec
400m Hurdles	Pawel Januszewski (Pol)	48.17sec
3000m Steeple	Damian Kallabis (Ger)	8:13.10
20km Walk	Ilya Markov (Rus)	1:21.10
50km Walk	Robert Korzeniowski (Pol)	3:43.51
4x100m Relay	Great Britain & NI	38.52sec
4x400m Relay	Great Britain & NI	2:58.68
High Jump	Artur Partyka (Pol)	2.34m
Pole Vault	Maksim Tarasov (Rus)	5.81m
Long Jump	Kiril Sosunov (Rus)	8.28m
Triple Jump	Jonathan Edwards (Gbr)	17.99m
Shot Put	Oleksandr Bagach (Ukr)	21.17m
Discus	Lars Riedel (Ger)	67.07m
Hammer	Tibor Gecsek (Hun)	82.87m
Javelin	Steve Backley (Gbr)	89.72m
Decathlon	Erki Nool (Est)	8667pts

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Women's Medal Table 1998
Event	Winner	Result
100m	Christine Arron (Fra)	10.73sec
200m	Irina Privalova (Rus)	22.62sec
400m	Grit Breuer (Ger)	49.93sec
800m	Yelena Afanasyeva (Rus)	1:58.50
1500m	Svetlana Masterkova (Rus)	4:11.91
5,000m	Sonia O'Sullivan (Irl)	15:06.50
10,000m	Sonia O'Sullivan (Irl)	31:29.33
Marathon	Manuela Machado (Por)	2:27.10
100m Hurdles	Svetla Dimitrova (Bul)	12.56sec
400m Hurdles	Ionela Tirlea (Rom)	53.37sec
10km Walk	Annarita Sidoti (Ita)	42:49
4x100m Relay	France	42.59sec
4x400m Relay	Germany	3:23.03
High Jump	Monica Dinescu (Rom)	1.97m
Pole Vault	Anzhela Balakhonova (Ukr)	4.31m
Long Jump	Heike Drechsler (Ger)	7.16m
Triple Jump	Olga Vasdeki (Gre)	14.55m
Shot Put	Vita Pavlysh (Ukr)	21.69m
Discus	Franka Dietzsch (Ger)	67.49m
Hammer	Mihaela Melinte (Rom)	71.17m
Javelin	Tanja Damaske (Ger)	69.10m
Heptathlon	Denise Lewis (Gbr)	6559pts

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