Turkish athlete claims 5,000m win in Finland

TAMPERE

Gamze Bulut celebrates after winning the 5000m final in Tampere. REUTERS photo

Gamze Bulut won the gold medal in the women’s 5,000m finals of the European Athletics U-23 Championship in Tampere, Finland July 14.

The 20-year-old Turkish athlete, who won the silver medal in 1,500m in the Olympic Games last year, claimed the European title by running her best race at 15:45:03.

Layes Abdullayeva of Azerbaijan came in second with 15:51.72 and Britain’s Kate Avery won the bronze medal with 15:54.07. Turkish athlete Esma Aydemir finished the women’s 5,000-meter finals 12th in 16:28.68.

Bulut came second behind Aslı Çakır Alptekin last year, completing a historic one-two finish for Turkey at the Olympics. It was a repeat of the duo’s one-two finish at the 2012 European Championships.

In another race in Tampere, the 1991-born Turkish athlete Burcu Büyükbezgin ranked fifth at the women’s 10,000-meter finals held on July 13 with a time of 34:37.62.

Elif Karabulut of Turkey came in eighth at the women’s 1,500-meter finals with 4:19.87, in a race only 11 athletes could finish.