21st June 2010 04:31
Both teams were promoted to the Second League for 2011.
The women's 100m hurdles was interesting because the top two ran in separate heats. Dimitra Arachoviti came out on top with an impressive 13.63 in the second heat. Denmark's Anne Moller was primarily running against the clock in her weaker first heat. She clocked a respectable 13.93, good enough to wedge herself into second place, ahead of Bulgaria's Kristina Damyanova.
Going into the second day of the meet, everyone was looking for Ivet Lalova and Eleni Artymata to reprise their duel, this time over the 200m event. Lalova had an edge in the women's 100m dash on the first day, but Artymata had enough of an advantage over the longer distance to secure the win. However, she wasn't completely happy with her run. “I was hoping for a better time. I don't know if it was the wind or the heat, but it didn't happen. Still, it was a positive result, I'm OK with the win”.
Lalova wasn't too distraught after her loss to Artymata. “To be honest, it's my second competition this season, and my goal is the European Athletics Championships. I'm still not in my top shape, but I enjoyed this weekend. I enjoyed running with Eleni, because she's a finalist from Berlin last year. I was expecting a tough time in this race … and that's obvious because I died at the end. But the 100m is my event, and I really hope to be in top shape next month.”
One of the surprises of the European Team Championships Third League was Albanian Luiza Gega's victory in the 1500m, after her success in the 800m on Saturday. The diminutive Albanian managed to out-pace taller opposition in the final phases of both races to secure an unprecedented double win, and became a crowd favourite in the process. After the race she was clearly elated. “Yesterday I was feeling very confident, but today it was a great surprise! It's the first time I've won this race at this meet, so I'm very happy with my result.”
Bosnia and Herzigovina's Nedim „Œović ran a national-record 21.06s in the men's 200m on his way to a good win over Bulgaria's Yordan Ilinov. Given his form so early in his season, he seems set to better that mark in the near future.
The tightest contest of the meet was in the women's High Jump, where Bulgarian Venelina Veneva edged out Montenegro's Marija Vukovic. Both cleared 1.89m, but Veneva managed it first time, giving her the narrowest of victories.
Going into the men's 4x400m relay, the top spot was still up for grabs. The women's 4x400m had seen Bulgaria's women finish first, ahead of Denmark. This really turned on the pressure on Denmark as the point differential was extremely tight. Luckily for Denmark, Jacob Riis, Andreas Bube, Daniel Christensen and Nicklas Hyde ran four very assured legs and won by a comfortable margin.
Bulgaria's relay team rallied late and managed to overtake Azerbaijan for second. It wasn't enough to deny the Danes, who closed the day as they had started it, at the top of the standings.