Guba rains on Schwanitz show, but Abele delivers

BERLIN: Twelve-time Polish shot put champion Paulina Guba rained on German Christina Schwanitz’s hopes of a third European crown when she snatched victory with her sixth and final effort on Wednesday.

Schwanitz looked set for victory after going out to 19.19 with her first attempt, but the large home crowd were silenced after Guba stepped into the ring for one last go to hand Poland a third field gold of the championships.

And there was no golden send-off to Schwanitz’s teammate Robert Harting, whose singlet-ripping, mascot-carrying celebrations after winning world discus gold in the same Olympic Stadium at the 2009 worlds have taken on legendary status.

The German came in sixth in a competition also dramatically won by Lithuanian Andrius Gudzius, his last throw of 68.46m usurping Sweden’s Daniel Stahl by 23cm, in a repeat of last year’s world 1-2 finish in London.

Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou, only 20, claimed victory in the men’s long jump, his 8.25m beating Germany’s Fabian Heinle’s 8.13.But there was finally something for the home fans to cheer, Arthur Abele making it around the final strength-sapping 1500m to claim decathlon gold with a total of 8,431 points.

World champion Ramil Guliyev of Turkey set up a revenge showdown with Spain’s reigning European champion Bruno Hortelano in the 200m.The duo both won their semi-finals, the Azeri-born Turk in 20.33sec, Hortelano four-hundredths quicker. The third semi went the way of Jamaican-born Swiss Alex Wilson in 20.16.Also on the track, Karsten Warholm’s ambitious bid for a double in the 400m and 400m hurdles got off to the perfect start as he scorched into the finals of the one-lap race.