Hellebaut shocks Bergqvist

Roman Sebrle won the decathlon fairly comfortably and Susannah Kallur made up for Bergqvist's failure by winning the 100m hurdles.

Hellebaut's victory - achieved by setting two national records and having the better card at 2.03m than Venelina Veneva of Bulgaria - was all the more impressive given her relatively recent conversion from Heptathlon.

"I still do not believe what is going on here," she said after the triumph.

"I wanted to win a medal and jump a national record and now I am the gold medallist and jumped 2.03 metres. It is so strange."

"Before the competition I thought, 'Just go out there and enjoy yourself with this great crowd'."

She utilised her superior pace to generate the power to take her to heights she had never achieved before, her personal best before the championships being 2.00.

Bergqvist emulated male equivalent Stefan Holm in picking up bronze but was widely expected to win comfortably and challenge for the outdoor world record of 2.09m.

"I thought I did everything right up until 2.03," said Bergqvist.

"I guess in the end it wasn't my day but the other girls jumped great so I'll have to be content with the bronze."

Despite looking comfortable in keeping a perfect record up to 2.03m, Bergqvist got her run-up wrong at her first attempt at what was ultimately the winning height, choosing to pass her remaining attempts after Hellebaut cleared it first time.

She had no more luck at 2.05, Hellebaut winning her first major championship with in-form jumper Blanka Vlasic (CRO) and Olympic champion Yelena Slesarenko dropping out of the medals in a high-class field.

Venelina Veneva of Bulgaria took a good silver after clearing 2.03 at the second attempt.

Kim Gevaert made it two golds in four minutes for Belgium when she won the 200m to complete a European sprint double.

Gevaert's 22.69s run was all the more impressive given that she was trailing to Yuliya Gushchina going into the last fifty metres, yet won by a quarter of a second. Natalya Rusakova took bronze for a Russian 2-3.

Bergvist and Holm's failures in the women's and men's High Jump competitions were compensated for by a - perhaps unfairly - less expected win by Susannah Kallur in the 100m hurdles.

"It's unbelievable," said Kallur, who also won gold at the 2005 European indoor championships in Madrid.

"I would like to thank the crowd. I felt like I had extra muscle fibres because of them."

Running in a final containing twin sister Jenny, reigning champion Glory Alozie and in-form German Kirsten Bolm she started well and finished even more strongly in 12.59s, ahead of Derval O'Rourke, who pipped Bolm in a photo-finish with an Irish record of 17.72.

"This is one of the most amazing feelings in my life," she continued. "I really did what was necessary, I stayed focused on my own race and was able to run my best time in the last race.

"For the future I hope to continue to improve and work on my consistency, mainly towards world championships and Olympic games," added Kallur.

The German national team lodged an appeal against the decision to award O'Rourke silver, having felt Bolm had done enough for at least join second.

"At first I was really happy when I saw that I had won the silver medal, then I got really frustrated when they took away my name," said Bolm.

"But I was very happy about having a medal, I don't know which one right now. But I'll take any medal."

The Czech Republic's decathlon World Record holder Roman Sebrle completed his win as expected, and with something to spare.

The 1500m is always the toughest ask for the big men that dominate the nine other events, which often makes the mid-to-late order of the final race the most compelling veiwing.

With Sebrle guaranteed victory after impressing throughout and dominating the javelin with a 66.90m throw, it came down to four men battling for three medals.

Aleksandr Pogorelov (RUS), Pascal Behrenbruch (GER), Aleksey Drosdov (RUS) and Sebrle's training partner Attila Zsivoczky (HUN) were all within striking distance of silver, but after Pogorelov and Behrenbruch fell to the back to the 1500m pack earlier on it was left to Zsivoczky and Drosdov to battle it out for silver despite being 40m from the front.

They were shoulder to shoulder for much of the final lap before the Russian tired and Zsivoczky pulled away, winning silver by just six points.

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