OH! THAT WINNING FEELING: Olympic champion Stefano Baldini is joy unbounded after winning the marathon on Sunday. — Photo: AP

GOTEBURG : Italy's Stefano Baldini added the European crown to his Olympic title here on Sunday with a well-timed run in the marathon.

The seventh and last day of the European championships again belonged to powerhouses Russia with its athletes claiming another four gold medals, as well as one silver and a bronze.

Russia ended the seven days of competition with a total haul of 12 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze from 47 events. The Russian performance was built on the solid and experienced women's team, which claimed 11 gold, 9 silver and 8 bronze medals.

Its dominance is underlined by the tally of second-ranked country Germany, which claimed just four gold, three silver and two bronze medals.

Breaking clear

Baldini and Viktor Rothlin of Switzerland broke clear with five miles of the 26.2 mile course around the streets of Goteburg remaining, but Baldini kicked inside the last mile to win in 2 hours, 11.32 seconds. Rothlin crossed the line 18 seconds adrift for silver with Spain's Julio Rey taking bronze for a second time.

Surprising win

In the men's 800m, Bram Som of the Netherlands barged his way through on the inside to surprise everyone to win a slow race in 1 minute, 46.56 seconds.

David Fiegen handed Luxembourg its first ever championship medal with silver three-hundredths off the pace, while a strong finish by Sam Ellis saw him take bronze for Great Britain.

Two-time World champion Tatyana Tomashova of Russia showed her class in the women's 1500m, winning in a championship record of 3 minutes, 56.91 seconds ahead of compatriot Yuliya Chizhenko (3:57.61) taking silver and Daniela Yordanova of Bulgaria (3:59.37) bronze.

The results (winners only):

Men: 800m: Bram Som (Ned) 1:46.56s; 5,000m: Jesus Espana (Esp) 13:44.70s; Marathon: Stefano Baldini (Ita) 2:11:32; 4 x 100m: Britain (Dwain Chambers, Darren Campbell, Marlon Devonish, Mark Lewis-Francis) 38.91s; 4 x 400m: France (Leslie Djhone, Idrissa M'Barke, Naman Keita, Marc Raquil) 3:01.10s; Pole vault: Alex Averbukh (Isr) 5.70m.

Women: 1,500m: Tatyana Tomashova (Rus) 3:56.91s; 4 x100m: Russia (Yuliya Gushchina, Natalya Rysakova, Irina Khabarova, Yekaterina Grigoryeva)42.71s; 4 x 400m: Russia (Svetlana Pospelova, Natalya Ivanova, Olga Zaytseva, Tatyana Veshkurova) 3:25.12s; Long jump: Ludmila Kolchanova (Rus) 6.93s; Javelin: Steffi Nerius (Ger) 65.82m. — Agencies

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