World record holder Roman Sebrle became the first decathlete in 20 years to retain the European title last night.

The 31-year-old Czech had led the competition since the second of the 10 disciplines, the long jump, and the destination of the gold medal never looked in doubt.

He finished the two-day competition with 8,526 points, the leading total in Europe this year.

Attila Zsivoczky of Hungary took silver with 8,356 and Aleksey Drozdov won the bronze on 8,350.

Sebrle's overnight lead of 161 points was reduced to 123 by Russian Aleksandr Pogorelov after the eighth event, the pole vault, but the Olympic champion showed his class by producing a season's best in the javelin of 66.90 metres.

That gave Sebrle a lead of 206 points meaning he just had to drag his exhausted body around four laps of the track to secure the title.

He did that, practically jogging round while the others fought it out for the minor placings in the overall standings. Pogorelov finished fourth overall on 8,245 points.

Britain's Daley Thompson was the last man to retain the European title in 1986.