• European Athletics Championships

Three medals on final day takes GB to record haul

Chris Tomlinson won bronze in the long jump © Getty Images

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Gallery from the final day in Barcelona

Great Britain achieved their best performance at the European Athletics Championships as two bronze medals and a silver on the final day in Barcelona took them to 19 medals overall, including six golds.

Third-place finishes for Chris Tomlinson and the women's 4x400 metres relay team, plus a silver from the men's 4x400m squad, handed Great Britain third place in the overall medal table, behind Russia - who picked up 24, with 10 golds - and France, who had 18 medals but eight golds.

Martin Rooney took the baton in fourth spot ahead of the last leg of men's 4x400m relay, but he showed his quality to lead Britain to second - in a time of 3:02.25 - behind Russia, who clocked 3:02.14.

"They put me in a good position," Rooney said. "I was hoping to get those pesky Russians, that young Russian guy [Vladimir Krasnov] I was hoping to put in his place - but I'm really happy."

Tomlinson produced a season's best of 8.23m to seize a bronze medal in the men's long jump competition, where unheralded German Christian Reif recorded a prodigious leap of 8.47m - a championship record - to take the gold, with France's Kafetien Gomis in second at 8.24m.

"I know there's a monster in there, it's just about it getting it out," Tomlinson said. "It didn't come out today - I got a few consistent jumps around the 8.20 mark - but fingers crossed, I'll keep my head up and I'm sure the big 8.50 will come soon."

The women's 4x400m relay team - Nicola Sanders, Marilyn Okoro, Lee McConnell and Perri Shakes-Drayton - added another medal to Britain's collection as they completed in third place with a time of 3:24.32, well back on the runaway victors Russia - 3:21.26 - and agonisingly close to Germany in silver.

"I knew I had to step up, I just set out to get us in contention and leave the girls fighting for a medal," Okoro, who ran the second leg, said.

There was severe disappointment for Lisa Dobriskey in the women's 1,500 metres as she finished fourth behind shock gold medallist Nuria Fernandez of Spain.

World Championship runner-up Dobriskey was ideally positioned to pounce with one lap to go, but she found herself crowded out by a group that congregated around leader - and race favourite - Anna Alminova.

Ukraine were shock winners of the women's 4x100m title © Getty Images

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It was Fernandez who found a gap to burst into with around 100m of the race remaining, and she did not let the opportunity pass - she stormed through to seal victory in 4:00.20 on home soil, as Alminova slipped back to sixth.

Stephanie Twell finished in seventh place with a career-best time of 4:02.70, while UK Champion Hannah England was three spots further back.

"I gave everything I possibly could today, but I just wasn't good enough on the day," Dobriskey said. "They were ever so strong in the final 200 - I wanted to get my presence known early on and didn't pay off for me today. I'm disappointed but I really did try my hardest."

Christophe Lemaitre, winner of the 100m and 200m individual titles, completed a sprint hat-trick as France left it late before securing victory in the men's 4x100m relay. Italy were in front going into the final leg, but they had to settle for silver after a devastating last-gasp surge from Martial Mbandjock took France to the title in 38.11 seconds - the fastest time in Europe this year.

In the women's 4x100m, Ukraine stormed to a surprise triumph, finishing ahead of France and Poland in 42.29 seconds - the fastest time in the world in 2010.

Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse was unsuccessful in her quest to emulate Mo Farah by winning the long-distance double - she was forced to settle for silver in the women's 5,000m after her compatriot Alemitu Bekele crossed the line in a time of 14:52.20.

Switzerland's Viktor Rothlin took the men's marathon title during the only event of morning session, while Poland's Piotr Malachowski threw 68.87m to seal men's discus glory.

Croatia's Blanka Vlasic triumphed in a protracted women's high jump competition at 2.03m, ahead of Sweden's Emma Green and Germany's Ariane Friedrich, who recorded 2.01m.

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