Russia in command with 10 events to go

Yuriy Borzakovskiy of Russia registered a confident win in the men's 800m clocking 1:45.41 on the second day of the SPAR European Team Championships in Bergen on Sunday.

The 2010 SPAR European Team Championships favourites Russia extended their lead to a massive 54.5 points at the halfway point on the second day on Sunday and look well on the way to being crowned as Europe’s top athletics nation.

With just 10 of the 40 events at this year’s Championships still to be decided, Russia have 294.5 points with Great Britain in second place with 240 points and France on 222 points.

Building on their eight victories on Saturday, Russia added two more wins and maximum points during the first 10 events on Sunday.

Tatyana Dekyareva sped down the track in the 100m hurdles in a European-leading time of 12.68 while 2004 Olympic Games 800m gold medallist Yuriy Borzakovskiy had delayed his 2010 outdoor debut over two laps of the track until he arrived in Bergen but showed that he had prepared well with a confident and composed victory in 1:45.41.

Another European-leading mark came in the women’s 200m when the Ukrainian sprinter Yelizaveta Bryzhina produced a stunning burst of acceleration off the bend to go from third to first and win in a new personal best of 22.71.

A much bigger surprise came from Bryzhina’s team mate Viktor Kuznetsov, who pulled off the biggest shock of the weekend so far in the Triple Jump.

Kuznetzov's first round jump of 17.26m, a personal best by three centimetres, was sufficient to leave Great Britain's Phillips Idowu,  the 2009 World Championships gold medallist, and France's Teddy Tamgho, the 2010 World Indoor Championships gold medallist who also jumped 17.98m two weeks ago, in second and third place.

Greece, Norway and Finland occupy the last three places, as they did at the end of the first day, and will be striving to avoid relegation to the First League next year as this year’s Championships draws to a close.