Team GB harvest record haul of medals at European Championships

GREAT Britain completed their most successful European Championships in terms of medals won with silver in the final event, the men's 4x400 metres relay.

Conrad Williams, Michael Bingham, Robert Tobin and Martyn Rooney just failed to catch Russia on the line but added to the bronze medals won by the women's team, including Scotland Lee's McConnell, and Chris Tomlinson in the long jump.

That took the medal tally to 19, eclipsing the previous best of 18 achieved in Split in 1990, although that did include nine golds compared to six in Barcelona.

Bingham found himself down in seventh when the stagger unwound after the first leg and improved to fifth by the time he handed the baton to Tobin.

Rooney took over in third place, despite having to barge into the incoming Russian athlete, and although he was able to overtake Belgium's Jonathan Borlee, Russia's Vladimir Krasnov held on for the gold. Russia had also won the women's race in commanding fashion, with Britain's Nicola Sanders, 800m specialist Marilyn Okoro and McConnell combining to hand the baton to Perri Shakes-Drayton in third place for the final leg, and the 400m hurdles bronze medallist almost caught Germany for silver down the home straight.

In a somewhat underwhelming final evening for the team, Tomlinson was denied silver by just one centimetre in the final round of the long jump.

Tomlinson's jump of 8.23m in the fourth round looked good enough to secure second place behind Germany's Christian Reif (8.47m), before France's Kafetien Gomis followed four straight fouls with a leap of 8.24m on his last attempt. The 28-year-old from Middlesbrough had one last chance to reclaim silver but could only manage 7.57m with his final attempt.

Lisa Dobriskey had been unable to add to the medal haul, finishing fourth in the final of the 1,500m.

Dobriskey, also fourth in the Beijing Olympics but a silver medallist at the World Championships last year, was perfectly positioned at the bell as she moved on to the shoulder of long-time leader Anna Alminova. But the 26-year-old from Kent was never able to get her nose in front and eventually lost out in the sprint finish down the home straight, which was won by Spain's Nuria Fernandez in a personal best of 4:00.20 seconds.

France's Hind Dehiba was second and another Spaniard, Natalia Rodriguez, third, with Britain's Steph Twell and Hannah England seventh and tenth respectively.

Dehiba is just back from a two-year ban after testing positive for the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO).

She and her husband and coach, Fodil Dehiba, were arrested at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris in 2007 after vials containing human growth hormone were found in their luggage. A tearful Dobriskey said: "I went in with the attitude that it was gold or nothing. I just raced a little bit more aggressively and made my move a little bit early and consequently I wasn't as strong as I would usually be in the final straight."

Asked about Dehiba, the 2006 Commonwealth champion added: "It's a bit disappointing obviously but I can only hope the doping system is fair and just and they are doing the best they can. Hopefully it was a clean race tonight."

Christophe Lemaitre became the first athlete to win three golds at the European Championships after helping France win the 4x100 relay title on final. Lemaitre ran the second leg down the back straight before anchor Martial Mbandjock raced past Italy's Maurizio Checcucci for France to clock 38.11 seconds. Italy took silver in 38.17 and Germany claimed the bronze in 38.44 at Barcelona's Olympic stadium.

"We panicked a little in the last few metres when we saw the Italians right on our tail," said Lemaitre, who ran a quick leg but had a difficult handover. "They were running very fast but Martial did an excellent job for us."

Lemaitre became the first Frenchman to win the 100-200 sprint double, and the seventh overall, earlier in the championships and his treble helped France finish the six-day event only two golds short of Russia's event-leading tally of ten.

Russia closed the event by winning both 4x400 relays, Tatyana Firova earning a second gold after her individual 400 victory.

Yuliya Zarudneva won the 3,000m steeplechase as Russia won the overall standings with 24 medals to France's 18.

Great Britain won six golds and 19 medals. Germany won 16 medals, including four golds after Christian -- record-breaking leap in the men's long jump.