Luch Moscow again do the Cup double

Anna Alminova clocked a personal best of 8:40.63 to set the fastest 3000m time outdoors this year and inspire Luch Moscow to yet another European Champions Clubs Cup title.

Sport Club Luch Moscow continued their dominance of club athletics on the continent and, for the 11^th time in the last 13 years, did the double at the European Champions Clubs Cup by winning both the men's and women's titles in the Spanish city of Castellón.

The Luch women dominated throughout the weekend, with a squad featuring a host of Russian internationals including various Olympic, World and European medallists, and eventually notched up 117 points.

They took the title by a huge margin of 26 points from perennial runners up Valencia Terra I Mar, with the Spanish club finishing second for the eighth time in the last 10 years.

Star performers for Luch, helping inspire their team mates for the rest of the weekend, were first day winners Anna Alminova and Aleksandra Kiryashova.

Alminova, who won the European Indoor 3000m title in March, clocked a personal best of 8:40.63 for the fastest 3000m time outdoors in the world this year.

She sliced more than two seconds off the former Cup record of 8:42.96, which her compatriot Gulnara Galkina had set last year, but had to be on top form to out sprint Türkiye's Elvan Abeylegesse, with the double Olympic silver medallist over 5000m and 10,000m also inside the old record with 8:41.85 to get good points for Enka Spor Kulubu.

Pole Vaulter Kiryashova, the reigning European Under 23 champion, cleared a personal best of 4.60m to equal the Cup record set fellow Russian Svetlana Feofanova five years ago.

Alminova and Kiryashova provided two of Luch's five wins from the first day's 11 events.

Showing the quality of the Luch women's squad on display, their other winners on Saturday were 2004 Olympic Discus gold medallist Natalya Sadova, who won her specialist event with 61.58m; 2008 Olympic Games Javelin silver medallist Mariya Abakumova threw 63.41m and two-time World Indoor 400m champion Natalya Nazarova won over one lap of the track in 52.98.

The Russian women had to settle for a slightly more modest haul of winning just three out of the nine events on Sunday, but consistent high scoring across the board meant they clinched their 13^th consecutive title since 1997 with two events remaining.

However, most of the other clubs in action by the Mediterranean had