Lemaitre seals sprint double

Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre completed the sprint double at the European Championships last night by following up his 100m triumph with victory in the 200m.

Britain's Christian Malcolm took second place in a tight finish, with Lemaitre's compatriot Martial Mbandjock claiming the bronze.

A characteristically stunning late burst down the straight saw Lemaitre cross the line in a time of 20.37sec, with Welshman Malcolm just 0.01sec behind in 20.38.

"He has lots of talent, it's great for Europe to have athletes capable of competing with the United States and the Caribbean," said Malcolm.

On Wednesday, 20-year-old Lemaitre tasted victory in the 100m ahead of Britain's Mark Lewis-Francis and Mbandjock.

Lemaitre succeeds Portugal's Francis Obikwelu, who also achieved the 100m-200m double in 2006, and the young Frenchman will now target a third gold medal in the 4x100m relay.

Lemaitre's exploits also prompted a congratulatory message from French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"The head of state conveys to him (Lemaitre) his pride at these exceptional and extraordinary performances," read a statement from the Elysee Palace.

There was more success for France as defending European champion Yohann Diniz sprung an upset in the 50km walk with an impressive performance in the heat of Barcelona to retain his title.

Diniz took advantage as his main rivals dropped like flies to win the event in 3:40.37, the fastest time this year in Europe by a mighty nine minutes.

The Olympic champion Alex Schwazer, of Italy, came with the aim of a double gold in the walking events but after picking up silver in the 20km walk, he had to pull out towards the end of this race through injury.

The world champion Sergey Kirdyapkin, of Russia, and world silver medallist Trond Nymark, of Norway, also failed to finish.

Poland's Grzegorz Sudol took silver with a personal best and Russia's Sergey Bakulin won bronze.

Briton Andy Turner won gold in the 110m hurdles. The 29-year-old from Nottingham followed in four-time winner Colin Jackson's footsteps by claiming victory in 13.28 seconds in Barcelona, a season's best and just 0.01 outside his personal best.

He took advantage of a mid-race error by favourite Petr Svoboda, of the Czech Republic.

Svoboda, the fastest man in Europe this season, hit the seventh hurdle heavily while leading and as a result trailed home in sixth place.

Other finals

Women's pole vault: 1. S. Feofanova (Russia) 4.75; 2. S. Spiegelburg (Germany) 4.65; 3. L. Ryzih (Germany) 4.65.

400m women: 1. T. Firova (Russia) 49.89; 2. K. Ustalova (Russia) 49.92; 3. A. Krivoshapka (Russia)50.10.

400m men: 1. K. Borlee (Belgium) 45.08; 2. M. Bingham (Britain) 45.23; 3. M. Rooney (Britain) 45.23.

Women's hammer: 1. B. Heidler (Germany) 76.38m; 2. T. Lysenko (Russia) 75.65; 3. A. Wlodarczyk (Poland) 73.56.

Women's 3,000m steeplechase: 1. Y. Zarudneva (Russia) 9:17.57; 2. M. Dominguez (Spain) 9:17.74; 3. L. Kharlamova (Russia) 9:29.82.

Women's 400m hurdles: 1. N. Antyukh (Russia) 52.92; 2. V. Stambolova (Bulgaria) 53.82; 3. P. Shakes-Drayton (Britain) 54.18.

Women's 800m: 1. M. Savinova (Russia) 1:58.22; 2. Y. Hak (Netherlands) 1:58.85; 3. J. Meadows (Britain) 1:59.39.

Men's 1,500m: 1. A. Casado (Spain) 3:42.74; 2. C. Schlangen (Germany) 3:43.52; 3. M. Olmedo (Spain) 3:43.54.