Barras bags second gold for France

But while the young sprinter’s victory was achieved in a little over ten seconds, Barras’s equally impressive performance took him ten long, hard events over two days in which he fought back from fourth after eight disciplines to become his nation’s fourth European decathlon champion.

Only moments after Teddy Tamgho won bronze in the triple jump, and minutes before Veronique Mang and Myriam Soumare won silver and bronze in the women’s 100m, Barras had the tricolor flying again around the Olympic Stadium as he held off the challenge of Dutchman Eelco Sintnicolaas in the final 1500m race to secure his title and smash his personal best with 8453 points.

After a remarkable final day on which the lead changed hands three times, Sintnicolaas took silver with 8436, a personal best for him by nearly 300, and Andrey Kravchenko claimed bronze for Belarus to go with his Olympic silver.

Kravchenko amassed 8370 points while there were more PBs for Estonia’s Mikk Pahapill in fourth, Belgium’s Hans Van Alphen in fifth and Darius Draudvila of Lithuainia in sixth as the first seven men all scored more than 8000.

The odds were in the Frenchman’s favour before the gun for Barras not only started with a five-point advantage but owned a PB almost some seven seconds quicker than his Dutch opponent. Not that it would count for much with a gold at stake.

With dark clouds gathering again above the stands, it was Belgium’s Hans Van Alphen who led them out, followed by Dutchman Ingmar Vos, Barras and Sintnicolaas with Kravchencko tracking Pahapill another 10m back.

By the time they reached the bell, Van Alphen was 80m clear, but the real action was just about to start at the other end of the straight. Barras made his first move as they passed 400m to go, dragging Sintnicolaas clear of the rest. He kicked again at 300m out but Sintnicolaas shadowed his every move.

The Frenchman hadn’t come this far to be denied now, however. He struck again 200m from home and stretched first five, then ten metres clear, opening enough daylight to raise his arms in triumph half way down the home straight.

He crossed the line in 4:28.43 with his hands out in a gesture of disbelief. As he staggered to an exhausted stop he put them to his head and fell back in the track looking utterly stunned.

Only two and a half hours earlier he had been out of the medals and now he had the gold. “I’m a second day man,” he’d said before the championships. A last gasp man more like it.

Sintnicolaas had also come from down the field over the last two events. He’d been fifth after the discus this morning before two superb performances at pole vault and javelin moved him into contention.

He crossed the line third in 4:30.31, adding another 743 to his total for a personal best and a silver medal, a first for the Netherlands in decathlon. It was a huge step up for the European under 23 champion.

For Kravchenko, who ran a season’s best of 4:36.66 to finish ahead of Pahapill, it was a case of one medal won rather than the gold medal lost after he’d slipped from first spot only after the javelin.

“I am quite satisfied with the Euroepan bronze,” said Kravchenko. “After my silver in Beijing I had a lot of problems with family and health, and I was injured. Now I am getting out of my crisis.”

Kravchenko is the first Belarus decathlon medallist at a European championships, while the winner’s name will now be up there in French folklore alongside their past decathlon champions, Ignace Heinrich, Christian Plaziat and Alain Blondel who won this title in 1950, 1990 and 1994 respectively.

Final decathlon standings:
1 Barras 8453 pts
2 Sintnicolaas 8436 pts
3 Kravchenko 8370 pts

Source: european-athletics.org