Vlasic jumps to gold

Blanka Vlasic wept tears of joy as she got the better of arch rival Ariane Friedrich once again to capture European Championships gold in Barcelona. The 26-year-old is the reigning double indoor and outdoor world champion and collected silver at the Beijing Olympics in Beijing, but she had not managed a European medal before arriving in Barcelona. Friedrich looked in fine form and applied pressure on the Croatian, who arrived in Barcelona with a season's best of 2.03m, just one centimetre ahead of the German.

The German had the edge after clearing all her heights at the first attempt up to 1.99m but could only clear 2.01 at her third attempt and failed all efforts at 2.03m.

That meant that Vlasic had the gold medal she so wanted after going clear at 2.03m at her second attempt - and she was moved to tears after yet another epic tussle.

Silver went to Sweden's Emma Green while Olympic champion Tia Hellebaut of Belgium could only manage fifth place.

Eurosport