British thrill to record medal haul

Gardener's gold and victory by the men's relay team on top of success on Saturday in the men's triple jump and women's 400 metres put Britain on top of the medal table with 10 in total. Their previous best was nine in 1989.

Gardener blasted out the blocks and led from start to finish for victory in 6.51 seconds. The 31-year-old threw his arms in the air and jumped for joy after crossing the line ahead of training partner Craig Pickering.

"I just wanted it so much. It meant more to me than the first one (in 2000)," Gardener told reporters. "This gives me realistic ambitions for a summer campaign."

Belgian sprinter Kim Gevaert claimed her third title in the women's final, with Greece's Katerina Thanou back in sixth in her first international competition since a two-year suspension for doping violations.

"It doesn't matter that I didn't get a medal," former champion Thanou said. "The point is I'm enjoying competing."

Poland's Lidia Chojecka made championship history by adding the 3,000 metres gold to the 1,500 she won on Saturday.

Chojecka made her move with two laps to go, going past long-time leader Jo Pavey of Britain and then pulling away from Spain's European 5,000 champion Marta Dominguez.

Czech Roman Sebrle became the oldest man to win the heptathlon title, snatching victory from Russian Aleksandr Pogorelov on the last discipline, the 1,000 metres,.

It was a hat-trick of European indoor golds for the 32-year-old, whose total of 6,196 points was the best in the world this year.

"It doesn't get any easier," said the Olympic decathlon champion, who was lucky to escape serious injury when he was impaled in the shoulder by a javelin in a training accident in January.

Stefan Holm kept his high jump crown as Sweden enjoyed a one-two in the competition. The Olympic champion, won the event ahead of Linus Thornblad with a best of 2.34 metres.

Britain's Martyn Bernard took an unexpected bronze after medal favourite Tomas Janku of the Czech Republic pulled out with an injury sustained when clearing 2.25.

There was also a double celebration for the Russian women in the pole vault with Svetlana Feofanova recapturing the title she held in 2002, in the absence of Yelena Isinbayeva.

Feofanova cleared 4.76 having passed on her final attempt at 4.71. It was a brave decision that gave her the gold ahead of compatriot Yuliya Golubchikova.

"It did not affect my competition with Yelena not being here," Feofanova said. "I still would have jumped the same."

Spain went one better, sweeping all the medals in the men's 1,500 metres.

Juan Carlos Higuero finally struck gold after silvers at the previous two championships, beating Sergio Gallardo to victory in 3:44.41. Arturo Casado completed the medal trio in third.

Andrew Howe had said boredom led him to enter the championships and the Italian long jumper was rewarded for the effort, adding European indoor gold to his outdoor title with a fifth-round leap of 8.30 metres for a national record.

Russia's Oksana Zbrozhek saw off fellow pre-race favourite Tetyana Petlyuk of Ukraine to win the women's 800 metres gold in 1:59.23. Slovenia's world indoor record holder Jolanda Ceplak was third.

Arnoud Okken of the Netherlands took the men's race in 1:47.92.

Carlota Castrejana jumped 14.64 metres for a Spanish record and the furthest distance by a European this year to become her country's first triple jump champion.

Italian Assunta Legnante's third round effort of 18.92 was enough to give her the shot put gold but the winning distance was the shortest since Nadezhda Chizhova of the Soviet Union won the inaugural competition in 1970 with 18.80.

The three-day championship ended in controversy when Germany were disqualified from the men's 4x400 metres relay, handing gold to Britain.

Germany's individual silver-medallist Bastian Swillims tripped Russian Artem Sergeyenkov on the final bend.

Belarus won the women's race.