QUOTE OF THE SESSION

„My job in Barcelona is done.
I came here to win the medal, I won the medal and now I want to
go home and celebrate with my friends and family and look forward to the end of
the season and preparation towards 2012, „ Philips Idowu after winning the
triple jump. „Only the win is counting,” Verena Sailer after winning the 100 m.

RESULT OF THE SESSION

Personal best for Philips Idowu
17.81 in
the triple jump. European women sprinting getting new blood, against wind
Verena Sailer 11.10 and Veronique Mang 11.11 personal bests.

SURPRISE OF THE SESSION

Aleksandr Shustov winning the
high jump after rain in wet circumstances 233 and beating world leader Ivan
Ukhov. Dutch silver winner in decathlon Eelco Sintnicolaas who improved from
8159 to 8436 personal best. Linda Stahl getting the javelin crown with personal
best 66.81 over favorites.

FAVORITES FALLS

World indoor record holder
Teddy Tamgho was surprisingly beaten not only by Idowu but also by returning
2004 olympic medalist Marian Oprea of Romania (17.45 and 17.51). World record
holder Barbora Spotakova struggling with elbow injury third in javelin. Olympic
silver medalist and world leader Mariya Abakumova of Russia only 5th.

STATS (by Ken Nakamura)

TJ: 17.81m by Idowu is the
longest TJ in Barcelona as well as second longest in European Championships
(previously, longest TJ in Barcelona was 17.72m indoor by Brian Wellman in
1995). 17.45m and 17.29 are best marks for place for 3rd and 4th place, respectively,
at European championships (previous best 3rd place was 17.34m by Lapshin in
1990 and best 4th place was 17.22 by Glavatsikiy in 1998)

Decathlon: First medal for NED
and BLR in Decathlon at European championships.

100 m women: The winning
margin of 0.01 is the smallest ever at W100m in European Championships
(previously, the smallest winning margin was 0.08 in 1994, Privalova won
in 11.02) and 1969 (Kandarr won in 11.66). It was the first time FRA won two
medals at w100m in European Championships

JT: 66.81 by Stahl is the
longest WJT in Barcelona (Previously the longest JT in Barcelona was 64.25m by
Tatyana Shikolenko in 1999 which was broken by Spotakova with her 65.36 earlier
in the round). Not counting GDR 1-2 finish in 1974, it is the second time GER
won both gold and silver in WJT (it happened in 1938) at the European
Championships.

Dec JT: 71.71m by Lars Vikan
Rise is the longest JT since 1986, when I believe the old Javelin was in
use. So it is the longest JT in Decathon with a new Javelin in European
championships.

Dec: 545 cleared by Eelco
Sintnicolaas is the highest PV recorded during the Decathlon at the European
Championships. Previous record was 540 by Alain Blondel in 1994, and Erki
Nool  in 1998.

SPECTATORS

Estimated at 30 000

.

OTHERS

ITALY: Andrew Howe and
Antonietta Di Martino spoke to the Italian media on the eve of their
much-awaited debut at the European Championships. Andrew Howe, who jumped 8.16
at the Italian Championships in Grosseto in his comeback competition, is
confident ahead of the qualifying round scheduled on Friday evening. “I walked
on crutches last September after undergoing surgery on my Achilles tendon in
Finland. Thing are going very well now. I defend the title I won four
years ago in Gothenburg but I don’t fear anybody. No jumpers are jumping
8.50-8.60 this year in Europe but everything can happen in the infield. First
of all I need to jump 8.00 to qualify for the final. Pavel Shalin,
Christian Reif and Salim Sdiri are the favourites. Mentally I am fit but
I am not sure how my body will respond. I think 8.30 will be enough
to win”, said Howe. Antonietta Di Martino will make her debut on European
Championships’ stage on Friday morning for the qualifying round of the women’s
high jump. “This year my life has been changed by marriage. I am now more
relaxed and confident thanks to the strong support of my husband Massimiliano
Di Matteo. Apart from a minor problem on my foot, my preparation is going
very well. Apart from Blanka Vlasic, my strongest rivals will be Ariane
Friedrich, Ruth Beitia, who competes on home-soil and Tia Hellebaut, who
performs very well on the big stage.

MARATHON: It was nearly
a dozen years ago when Stefano Baldini earned his first European title,
winning the gold medal in the marathon at the 1998 European Championships in
Budapest.  It was a glorious day for
Italian marathoning. The 27 year-old Baldini led his teammates Danilo Goffi and
Vincenzo Modica to silver and bronze medals, respectively, and Italy took home
the European Cup for the best team score. „I was young, but experienced, after
a second in London and third place in New York in 1997,” Baldini recalled
in an e-mail message to Race Results Weekly last week.  „It was my first appearance in a championships
race and I did well.  Budapest was
a promising race for many more results in international competitions.
I still love running and have a goal to achieve and I am the
reigning European champion.”

CZECH REPUBLIC: Minute of
tension for Czech Jan Kudlicka in pole vault qualification. He said to judges
he wants 540 as first height, but they noted 530 for him. So for first time in
his life he missed a jump because of time. Kudlicka then managed 530 in third.

BELGIUM: Antoine Gillet will
replace Arnaud Destatte Saturday in the heats of the 4x400m men. Coach Jacques
Borlee announced at a press conference. European leader Jonathan Borlee
will rest and first round will be contested by Gillet, Cedric Van Branteghem,
Nils Duerinck and Kevin Borlee.

AGENTS RANKING

Ricky Simms 3, Aleksandr Porkhomovskiy 2, Pavel Voronkov 2, Daniel Wessfeldt, Rene Auguin, Munir Yaras,
Mikhail Gusev, Kerstin Pohlers, Verra Michallek, Alfons Juck 1 gold medal.
Decathlon winner Barras is not having an agent.