France adds to medal haul, but Britain takes triple jump gold

Decathlete Romain Barras (pictured) and the reigning 50km walk champion, Yohann Diniz, have added two more golds to France's medal haul at the European Athletics Championships, but triple jump favourite Teddy Tamagho had to settle for bronze.

The Marseillaise echoed through Barcelona on Thursday as France captured its second gold medal at the European Athletic Championships. Romain Barras edged out Eelco Sintnicolaas of the Netherlands with a breakaway sprint on the home straight to win the gold medal in the decathlon. "I still can't quite associate the words 'Romain Barras' and 'European champion'. It has been a lot of work and sacrifice," he said emotionally of his first major title. Belarussan Andrei Krauchanka finished third.

France's quest for a third gold soon met with success on Friday after Yohann Diniz retained his 50-kilometre walk title, wrapping up the men's event in 3 hours, 40 minutes and 37 seconds. The Frenchman led from the start of the race and survived a nasty fall close to the end to beat the European season's best time by a full nine minutes. Gregorz Sudol of Poland took silver while Sergey Bakulin of Russia finished in third.

The French squad is pinning its hopes for a fourth gold medal on sprinter Christophe Lemaitre who earlier in the competition captured the 100m prize in style. The French sprinting sensation will be hoping to double it up with a 200m gold later on Friday. Lemaitre, the fastest man in Europe this year over both distances, looked tired in the heats but still recorded the fastest time in Thursday’s semis of 20.39.

A mere .01 of a second proved enough to deny France's Veronique Mang the gold medal in the women’s 100m finals on Thursday. German sprinter Verena Sailer took home the crown with a photo finish, beating Mang and her French compatriot Myriam Soumare who won the bronze medal.

In the triple jump, France’s Teddy Tamagho picked up a disappointing bronze medal after Britain’s Phillips Idowu soared to a personal best of 17.81 metres to win gold. Tamagho finished in third behind Romania’s Mairan Oprea. Earlier this year, the French triple jumper set the world indoor record in Doha at 17.90 metres and followed it up with a 17.98m personal best in New York, a feat that prompted the sport's living legend, Jonathan Edwards, to suggest his world record could fall soon.