Balciunaite, Radevica take gold

  • 2010-08-02
  • Oskars Magone

Lithuanian discus thrower Alekna stands with the mascot of the games. (photo: bcn2010.org)

BARCELONA - The Baltic States have come out of the 2010 Athletics European Championships with two gold medals, as a Lithuanian takes home gold in the women's marathon event and a Latvian wins the women's long jump.

The 20th European Athletics Championships took place from July 26 to Aug. 1 in the blistering heat of Barcelona, Spain.

Lithuanian runner Zivile Balciunaite won the gold medal in the women’s marathon on Saturday amid much fanfare.

Balciunaite, 31, was running with the group in the first half of the marathon, and then pulled away from her rivals in the 28th kilometre (of 42 total) and ran alone for the rest of the route. Her result, 2 hours 31 minutes and 14 seconds, is the best time of the season.

The women's long jump, meanwhile, produced a real upset as Latvia's Ineta Radevica clinched the gold medal by jumping 6.92m – a personal best.

Portugal's Naide Gomes jumped the same distance as Radevica, but her second longest jump was shorter than Radevica's. It was Radevica's first ever senior medal.

Both Estonian Gerd Kanter and Lithuanian Virgilijus Alekna - who have had a dominating presence in the discus throw over the past three Olympic Games - failed to take a medal at the event, coming in 4th and 5th respectively.