Sport Forward: Idowu wins Euro triple jump gold

European Athletics Championships 2010
Venue: Barcelona Dates: 27 July - 1 August
Coverage: Watch live on BBC HD, BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Sport website (UK users only); Live coverage on BBC Radio 5 live; Full highlights on iPlayer and highlights of the biggest events on demand online (UK only) Full details

Idowu wins European triple jump crown

Triple jumper Phillips Idowu won Great Britain's second gold medal of the European Championships while Martyn Bernard took a high jump bronze.

Idowu's fourth attempt of 17.81m was a new personal best and enough to see off Romania's Marian Oprea, who won silver, and in-form Frenchman Teddy Tamgho.

"I've always worked hard and by the grace of god I've come out a gold medallist," Idowu, 31, told BBC Sport.

Bernard finished behind Russian duo Aleksander Shustov and Ivan Ukhov.

Idowu started in sensational fashion on a rain-swept night, taking an early lead with his leap of 17.46. His second jump was a centimetre longer as he continued to lead the way.

606: DEBATE

Awesome performance. He is getting batter and better...

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But it was his fourth leap where Idowu's dominance really showed, the world champion increasing his own personal best by 8cm with a huge leap of 17.81.

That only served to increase the pressure on Tamgho, who jumped 17.98 in New York in May but failed to live up to his favourite's billing, managing only 17.45 to take bronze behind Oprea, who finished second with 17.51.

A disappointed Tamgho said: "I'm not satisfied with my performance at all, I was going for a win. Physically I was here but not mentally."

Fellow Briton Nathan Douglas finished 10th with a best of 16.48 but Idowu once again delivered on the big stage.

"It's been a tough year, I don't know how but it just seemed to come," he added.

PHILLIPS IDOWU FACTFILE

2006 - Wins Commonwealth Gold

2007 - Wins European Indoor Gold

2008 - Wins World Indoor Gold

2009 - Wins World Outdoor Gold

2010 - Wins European Outdoor Gold

"I knew I would have to do a big jump to win here ever since March [when Tamgho won the world indoor crown with 17.90] from the way Teddy was jumping. But me and my coach got it right and we planned for this day.

"I suffered a few defeats earlier in the season and got a bit of stick. I had to be strong and it's come to pass."

For Idowu, Thursday's victory saw him add to his Commonwealth (2006) and World (2009) gold medals, with the Brit now determined to complete the major set at the London 2012 Olympics.

Portugal's Nelson Evora denied him the Olympic title in Beijing in 2008 by five centimetres and Phillips has vowed not to miss out again.

"There is one more medal in my career I need to win and that will come in a couple of years," he said.

"I've worked hard for this. People think I'm a lucky athlete, but I'm not lucky, I've been doing this for 10 years now. I win gold medals. That's what I do. Hopefully now people will stop doubting me."

Idowu sets sights on gold in 2012

Bernard, the 2006 Commonwealth silver medallist, passed at the opportunity to jump 2.19m, going straight to 2.23 and, after three attempts, he cleared the height.

The 25-year-old went on to clear 2.29, his last successful jump of the night as Shustov went on to seal victory with 2.33.

"I love being at the championships," said Bernard.

"Last year I missed the World Championships in Berlin because I was injured and had an ankle operation.

"This year I wasn't expecting to get here with my ankle, it was looking like a pin cushion at one point with all the acupuncture, so to come here and do OK is brilliant.

"I wish I'd got 2.31m though. I think maybe at the training camp I had one ice cream too many, but it's a great thing to get a medal."

But team-mate Tom Parsons was not smiling however, the 26-year-old from Birmingham crashing out with three failures at the opening height.

"It has to be to do with the conditions because there is no way I would not clear 2.19 in good conditions," Parsons said.

"It's by far the worst conditions I have competed in, you could hear your feet squelching on the track.

"I've probably not done enough practice in the rain this year, but I was too cautious with my first two attempts. I added more speed on the third and cleared the bar but just clipped it with my heel. I just did not deal with it well enough."

Other finals on Thursday included the women's 100m which was won by Germany's Verena Sailer in a time of 11.10.

The silver was claimed by France's Veronique Mang with compatriot Myriam Soumare third.

Britain's Laura Turner failed to make the final.

Germany's Linda Stahl of Germany threw a personal best of 66.81 to win the women's javelin with Olympic bronze medallist Christina Obergfoll taking silver. The bronze was won by Olympic champion Barbora Spotakova of the Czech Republic.

The men's decathlon saw France's Romain Barras edge to victory with a score of 8,453 points.

Eelco Sintnicolaas of the Netherlands claimed the silver medal with 8,436 points while Andrei Krauchanka of Belarus won bronze with 8,370 points.

Thursday's results in full from European Athletics

Latest medal table