Britain strike 4x100m gold

A suspect first changeover could not deny Britain victory, as Marlon Devonish ran a blistering third leg, leaving Lewis Francis (below left) three metres clear of France with 70m to go. While David Alerte faded – and with it French hopes of gold - a challenge emerged from Poland, but Lewis Francis preserved his advantage over the finish line.

Another nation claiming their first gold of the championships was the Netherlands in the men's 800m, as Bram Som fought his way past the fading Dmitrijs Milkevics in the final few metres.

Renowned as a quick finisher, Som found himself squeezed up against the rail on the inside, though showed admirable upper body strength for a middle-distance athlete to muscle his way through. Milkevics even saw himself fall out of the medals as Luxemburg's David Fiegen and Britain's Sam Ellis claimed silver and bronze respectively.

Russia stretched their lead at the top of the medals table even further, claiming a 1-2 in the 1500m with Tatyana Tomashova and Yuliya Chizhenko leading the field home. The 4x100m relay team was similarly dominant, leading the race from start to finish as Britain and Belarus finished a distant second and third.

The 4x400m followed a largely similar pattern, the Russians leading the race from start to finish and crossing the line well over two seconds clear of Belarus in second and Poland in third.

Lyudmila Kolchanova also took victory in the long jump, confirming her position as the best in Europe after twice going beyond seven metres in competitions in Russia this season.

While wet and windy conditions in Gothenburg prevented any remarkable performances here, Kolchanova stamped her authority on the competition in the first round with a leap of 6.89m, before bettering that mark in the third round with a jump of 6.93.

There was to be no further medal for Sweden' golden girl Carolina Kluft, who could manage no better than sixth with a jump of 6.54m.

Another event to suffer from the adverse weather conditions was the men's pole vault. In the end it was Israel's Alex Averbukh who prevailed, his clearance at 5.70m proving enough for victory.

Favourite Tim Lobinger elected to pass at that height, having already sailed over 5.65m at his first attempt, but could failed in his three attempts at 5.75m. He had to settle for joint silver with France's Romain Mesnil.

The men's marathon this morning was marked by a gutsy performance from Switzerland's Viktor Roethlin, who in the end had to settle for second behind Olympic champion Stefano Baldini (left).

Roethlin attacked repeatedly throughout the race, and broke clear with Baldini 15 kilometres from the finish. The pair moved clear of the field and it seemed we were set for a sprint finish, though when Baldini kicked for home with just over 2 kilometres remaining, Roethlin had no answer.

The men"s 5000 proved to be equally as absorbing, though also touched by a moment of controversy when Ireland"s Alistair Clegg seemed to be clipped by Jesus Espana when leading.

The race plodded along at a pedestrian tempo in the first half, though exploded into life when Espana, Clegg and Mohamad Farah stretched the field out. Once Clegg had fallen, Farah took up the challenge and went all out for home. Espana hung on though, and passed the Briton with 50 metres to go to take victory.

Germany secured second place in the overall medals table with a gold in the women's javelin from Steffi Nerius. After trailing in the first round to Czech Barbara Spotakova, Nerius threw 65.82m in the third round, a mark that never looked in danger of being bettered.

The championships were wrapped up with a fascinating men's 4x400m relay, in which individual European champion Marc Raquil (right) brought France home first.

While Poland led at the final changeover, Raquil ran down Daniel Dabrowski to secure gold, and Britain's Tim Benjamin gave an indication of the improvement in his form since returning from injury, passing the Pole in the home straight to claim silver for Britain.