Sport

BARCELONA, Spain (AP):

Christophe Lemaitre overcame another poor start to win the men's 200 metres and secure a sprint double, while Russia dominated the women's events at the European Championships yesterday.

Lemaitre again recovered from an atrocious start and wobbly run around the bend to surge past four runners and snatch victory by a hundredth of a second, clocking 20.37 seconds at Barcelona's Olympic stadium.

"Coming out of the bend my legs were so heavy. But you have to push to the end to have a chance," Lemaitre said. "I really pushed with everything I had to do it."

First major triumph

The 20-year-old Frenchman had to power through the field over the last 60 meters in a similar finish to Wednesday's win in the 100, when he stumbled out of the blocks but recovered to secure his first major triumph.

"My start was not as good as I expected," Lemaitre said. "Now I am so glad to be a winner."

Christian Malcolm of Britain took silver with a season-best run of 20.38, while Martial Mbanjock won another bronze after finishing third in the 100. The Frenchman's time was 20.42 seconds.

"I didn't see Lemaitre, I didn't even hear him come," Malcolm said. "I really thought I got it."

Tatyana Firova led a Russian sweep of the 400 to begin a flurry of victories that saw Russian women claim five golds.

Russia tops the medal standings with eight golds for an overall count of 19 medals.

France has 10 medals overall, while Andy Turner's 110-metre hurdles win gave Britain their third gold. Germany also got their third through Betty Heidler's hammer throw victory.

Svetlana Feofanova won the pole vault with a leap of 4.75m - 10 centimetres better than German pair Silke Spiegelburg and Lisa Ryzih, who settled for silver and bronze, respectively.