Russia's Yuliya Zarudneva crosses the finish line ahead of Marta Dominguez of Spain to win the women's 3000m steeplechase gold on Friday evening.

Russia's Yuliya Zarudneva took revenge for her loss to Spain's Marta Domínguez at last year's world championships in Berlin with a thrilling win in the women's 3000m steeplechase on Friday evening.

The 24-year-old Zarudneva moved to the front right from the gun while Domínguez followed the Russian all the way. Layes Abdullayeva of Azerbayan was closest to them although her poor technique hugely hampered her medal ambitions as she lost ground at every barrier or water-jump.

Zarudneva, who made a major breakthrough last year by improving from 9:54.9 to 9:08.39, went through the 1000m point in 3:03.38 with Domínguez, 10 years her senior, trailing in her wake. Abdullayeva headed the chasing group that also included Russia's Lyubov Kharlamova, Poland's Wioletta Frankiewicz and Great Britain's Hatti Dean.

The pattern was maintained during the second kilometre although the rhythm decreased a bit as the second kilometre split was 3:09.24 for an overall time of 6:12.62.

Despite that the chasing group never threatenened the leading duo and Abdullayeva's weak technique led her to lose places successively.

While the 35,890 assembled crowd dreamt of a close sprint finish won by her compatriot Domínguez, Zarudneva maintained her pace and gained a few metres over the Spaniard at every barrier thanks largely to her better hurdling technique.

With 300m to go Zarudneva stepped up the pace dramatically in a bid to avoid Domínguez's trademark devastating final kick but the world champion responded immediately and covered the Russian. Domínguez's last chance came after the final barrier when it seemed for a while that she would overtake Zarudneva but the Russian managed to hold off Domínguez and romped home to land a narrow win by 17 hundredths in a championships record and season's best of 9:17.57 (3:04.95 for the closing kilometre). The blonde Spaniard had to settle for the silver on this occasion with a time of 9:17.74.

Meanwhile, the battle for the bronze was heating up; eventually Kharlamova prevailing over Dean in a tight sprint finish. They finished with 9:29.82 and 9:30.19 respectively, a season best for the Russian and a career best for the Briton.

Domínguez's medal was her fourth consecutive at the European Athletics Championships following a bronze 5000m medal in Budapest 1998, and the two titles over the same distance in Munich 2002 and Göteborg 2006. Domínguez's silver was also the first medal for the host nation Spain in Barcelona.

The champion said: "Mentally it was really tough as the entire stadium supported Domínguez. Before the race I thought it would be great to defeat the world champion at home and so I decided to take the lead from the beginning. I didn't feel Domínguez's breath because of the crowd. Their support for her kept me going faster and faster".

The Spaniard commented: "I liked how the race developed as it was only Zarudneva and me at the front but she took a small advantage on me after the last water-jump and then I couldn't catch her. Anyway, I can't complain as I have been European champion twice in the 5000m and I'm also the world champion in the 3000m steeplechase. It's impossible to win always. Definitely, I'm satisfied with my silver medal".