The men of Italy’s G.A. Fiamme Gialle and the women of Russian’s Luch Moscow once more showed their strength when they retained their respective titles by winning the European Champion Clubs Cup Senior Group A.
As early evening started to draw in on a weekend in Portugal’s Vila Real de Santo António, Fiamme and Luch were confirmed champions having led overnight.
For Luch, it was the 17th successive time their women have lifted the trophy.
Their men’s team almost made it a double as they pushed Fiamme all the way.
The Italians won by just four points, 126 to 122, from the Russians with Spain’s Playas de Castellon third with 107.
Luch did not have it all to themselves in the women’s event with Türkiye’s Enka Spor Kulubu always a threat, but the Russians won by 7.5 points with 132 from Spain’s Valencia Terra i Mar in third with 116.
The men from Moscow had a better second day but Fiamme held strong by securing important wins in the 800m with Giordano Benedetti and then in the 200m with Diego Marani which proved crucial.
Fiamme’s men had ended the first day with a seven point lead - 70 to 63 - from Luch with the Spanish side of Playas de Castellon third with 57.
Italian victories on the opening day came from Fabio Cerutti in the 100m in 10.65, Fiamme’s Alessandro Valentini in the 400m in 47.21, the 4 x 100m relay in 39.23, the 5000m in 13:56.93 with Ahmed El Mazoury and the hammer with Nicola Vizzoni with 75.03m.
The second day was all about the Italians edging ahead when they could, while never not being able to look over their shoulder because the Russians were so strong.
The men’s triple jump saw Moscow’s Igor Spasovhodskiy win with his impressive opening jump of 17.22m and that ended up being an important, late points swing for the Russians.
Italy’s Mauro Quatrociocchi could not respond with 15.73m from his first jump and then three fouls.
It meant eight points for Russia in that event and only two for Italy.
But earlier performances on the day were crucial, such as Fiamme’s Stefano Tedesco, third in 14.08, finishing ahead of Moscow’s Konstantin Shabanov, fourth in 14.58, in a 110m hurdles race won by Rasul Dabo, of Sport Lisboa e Benfica, of Portugal, in 13.79.
But Moscow wins in the 3000m with Valentin Smirnov in 8:13.74, 3000m steeplechase with Nikolay Chavkin in 8:37.20, pole vault with Sergey Kucheryanu with 5.40m put them in contention.
By the time of the final event, it was all about the gap between the two and though Luch won the 4 x 400m in 3:08.16, the Italians, anchored by Barberi Andrea, finished second, just a point behind, in 3:08.55 to keep hold of the Cup.
With an 11-point lead over Enka, Luch Moscow’s women would always taking some catching on the second day but they could not rest on their laurels.
On Saturday Natalya Gorchakova won the 3000m steeplechase in windy conditions in 9:45.78, Irina Gumenyuk took the triple jump in 14.13m and Viktoriya Sudoroshkina wn the javelin with 58.96m in javelin.
But the Turkish side had such strength with Bulgarian Ivet Lalova, who had a superb 2012 when she won the 100m at the European Athletics Championships in Helsinki, winning in 11.58.
Enka scored more points as the Anna Yaroshchuk won the 400m hurdles in 56.55 before their double Olympic medalist Elvan Abeylegesse won the 3000m in 9:13.78.
It was a fine weekend for both Lalova and Abeylegesse who, on Sunday, then both triumphed again.
Lalova won the 200m in 23.82 while Abeylegesse was in complete control of the 5000m to cross the line first in 15:55.05 from Moscow’s Luidmila Lebedeva in 16:01.24.
The women’s hammer was always going to be one of the feature events with Olympic champion Tatyana Lysenko in the Luch team.
But such was the confidence of the Turkish side, that even she was pushed close.
Lysenko did win with 72.16m from the second round but only just as Enka’s Kivilcim Kaya Salman’s 71.01m from that same round was not far off overhauling her.
But on this second day, Russian victories in the 100m hurdles with Nina Argunova in 13.32, high jump with Yula Kostrova with 1.86m, shot put with Evgenia Kolodko with 18.57m ensured they extended their lead.
FINAL RESULTS
Men
G.A. Fiamme Gialle (Italy) 126.
Luch Moscow (Russia) 122.
Plays de Castellon (Spain) 107.
Sport Lisboa e Benfica (Portugal) 92.
Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers (Great Britain) 80.
Entende FranconVille (France) 77.
Fenerbache Sport (Türkiye) 58.
Sparta AM (Denmark) 51.
WOMEN
Valencia Terra i Mar (Spain) 116.
USK Praha (Czech Republic) 97.5.
Sporting Clube (Portugal) 87.
Birchfield Harriers (Great Britain) 62.5.
CA Montreuil 93 (France) 53.5.
Dundrum South Dublin (Ireland) 42.