Yasemin Can gets Euro long-distance double for Turkey

AMSTERDAM – The Associated Press

Kenyan-born teenager Yasemin Can clinched a long-distance double for Turkey at the European Championships on July 9, dominating the 5,000 meters with spectacular frontrunning, much as she had done during the 10,000 three days ago.

Can was only cleared to run for Turkey in March and made the most of this with a devastating kick after two kilometers - and never letting up - to win in a slow 15 minutes, 18.15 seconds, beating defending champion Meraf Bahta of Sweden by 2.39 seconds. She had won the 10,000 in much the same style.

It was the fourth gold for Turkey at the championships, and all won by athletes who were foreign-born. With Russia not competing because of a doping ban, the medal table was bound to look different. But few would have expected Turkey to do this well.

Anouk Vetter gave the Netherlands a third gold medal at the European championships with victory in the heptathlon.

Vetter dominated the two-day, seven-event competition and won with a national record of 6,626 points, breaking the old mark of heptathlete turned sprinter Schippers.

Antoinette Nana Djimou of France was second.

The Dutch 4x100 relay squad kept 100 champion Schippers in the hunt for a second gold when it qualified for Sunday’s final. Schippers skipped the first round of the relays.

In the biggest upset of the evening, double Olympic javelin champion Barbora Spotakova failed to successfully defend her European title and finished fifth, well behind winner Tatsiana Khaladovich, who won with a Belarussian record of 66.34 meters.