The 20-year-old Lemaitre had shown what fine form he was in with a time of 9.98sec, the first time a white sprinter had run inside 10 seconds, at the French Championships earlier this month.

In a surprisingly slow race, though, a performance of 10.11sec was enough to win and the French will be celebrating a double with Martial Mbandjock taking bronze.

Chambers had beaten Lemaitre last month in Bergen, but the British athlete failed deliver on the night, finishing fifth.

In a tight finish, the four athletes behind Lemaitre were all given 10.18 with the bronze and silver going to Britain's Mark Lewis-Francis and Mbandjock, by the smallest of margins.

"After a brilliant year my objective was gold," said Lemaitre, who is from Annecy.

"I didn't get a good start but I was able to pick my speed up well."

Lewis-Francis, the 2000 world junior champion who has fought a series of injuries in recent years and was a last-minute addition to Britain's team, was delighted with his second-place finish.

"I am the happiest man on the planet right now," he said having only reached the final as a fastest loser.

"It was an incredible race and I would just like to add that Dwain Chambers is a brilliant athlete and an inspiration to me since I was a kid."



Chambers, 31, the indoor 60m world champion who served a two-year doping ban in 2003, said he would keep fighting in his career.

"Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose but I'm happy for Mark, he has had to fight hard to get here," said Chambers.

"I had to rely on my experience which kept me relaxed but it wasn't enough to win.

"I just got to keep on ploughing at it until my opportunity prevails."

Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse dominated the women's 10,000m to win gold with a time of 31min 10.23sec, over 12 seconds  faster than second-placed Inga Abitova of Russia.

Portugal's Jessica Augusto picked up bronze.

A throw of 64.67 metres gave Croatia's Sandra Perkovic gold in the women's discus.

There was no clear favourite in the tournament and the up-and-coming star, who is the reigning European junior champion, took full advantage by winning with her final throw.

The experienced Romanian, Nicoleta Grasu took silver, and Poland's Joanna Wisniewska won bronze.

Latvian Ineta Radevica pulled off a surprise in the women's long jump to win gold with a jump of 6.92m.

The expected domination by the Russians never materialised and their only athlete on the podium was Olga Kucherenko who collected bronze.

Silver went to Naide Gomes, of Portugal, the same as she won four years ago.

World number one Libor Charfreitag, of Slovakia, took gold in the hammer with a distance of 80.02m.

He was always in control of the competition after making the mark with his second attempt. Nicola Vizzoni, of Italy, and Krisztian Pars, of Hungary, took silver and bronze respectively.

Double world and Olympic champion Olga Kaniskina added European gold to her collection as Russia made a clean sweep of the medals in the women's 20 kilometres walk.

She delivered a season's best performance of 1:27:44 to push Anisya Kirdyapkina and Vera Sokolova, who had beaten her in the Russian Championships, into silver and bronze respectively.


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