Estonia takes Discus gold 28. August 07

Estonia's Gerd Kanter, has gone from silver to gold. The 2005 World Discus silver medallist has emerged from the mighty shadow of Lithuanian super star Virgilijus Alekna, as World Discus Champion.

His third throw of 68.94m secured him the medal, ahead of 22-year-old German, Robert Harting (66.68) and Holland's Rutger Smith (66.42m).

The throwers were openly delighted with their positions, but there was disappointment for Alekna. July's European Athlete of the Month, was embarking on a record breaking winning streak of 37 successive victories, but the double World and Olympic Champion had to settle with fourth position saying,

"Finally I lost, there is nothing to do. I must admit that one week before I got injury on my right calf. So already before the competition I knew it won't be that good. But still hoped for a medal. Life goes on, now the time to rehabilitate myself
will come. I will try for that at World Athletics Final in Stuttgart and for sure next year at Olympics."

A delighted Kanter said,

"There will be a big party today, it is my day. When I woke up I was thinking about the gold. I struggled at last big championships to be second. But it was not a shame because Virgilijus is the best discus thrower ever and he inspired me a lot in recent years. I think he will be back, you cannot count him out. It will tough to beat him again at Olympics."


On the track, Spain's Mayte Martínez took bronze in the women's 800m final, after three-times World Champion, Maria de Lurdes Mutola (MOZ), dropped out in the finishing straight.

Janeth Jepkosgei's (KEN) blistering pace, set a new World leading time of 1:56.04, and Martínez ran a lifetime best finishing 1.58secs behind the Kenyan in 1:57.62. On her unexpected victory the seven-time Spanish 800m Champion said,

"It is incredible, I got that medal! The Kenyan's pace was ideal for me because I cannot go at 56 seconds for the first lap, so all I had to do was run the second lap in 60 seconds and believe in my sprint finish. It was the same pattern as already in the heats and the semi-final. During the whole race, I felt strong and fast. "

Despite a brave race from Sweden's Mustafa Mohamed, which saw him lead the group until the bell, the 3000m Steeplechase concluded with the predicted Kenyan medal sweep. Mohamed finished in fourth, 2.23secs behind Kenya's Richard Mateelong.

In the heats, Portugal's Francis Obikwelu (20.38) appeared to have recovered from his 100m disqualification, running a 20.38 200m heat. Obikwelu will be joined by Marcin Jedrusinski (POL), Paul Hession (IRL), Anastásios Goúsis (GRE), and Kristof Beyens (BEL) as the European hopefuls for the 200m semi-finals tomorrow.

Reigning European Champion, Susanna Kallur (SWE) is the only European to qualify for the women's 100m Hurdles final, winning her heat in 12.64, but four European's have qualified for the women's 400m Hurdles final: Tasha Danvers-Smith (GBR), Yevgeniya Isakova (RUS), Yuliya Pechenkina (RUS), and Anna Jesien (POL).

european-athletics.org