Donato makes home crowd happy on Day 2 in Torino

March 7, 2009

Italian Fabrizo Donato won the first gold medal for the hosts with a world leading 17.59m in the men's Triple Jump on the second day of the European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torino.

Dwain Chambers ran a new European 60m record of 6.42 seconds in the semi-final.

Click here for the RESULTS of the championships.

After not registering a valid attempt for the first four rounds, Donato jumped 17.59m for a national indoor record and the best mark in the world this year.

“Only one jump made the difference,” admitted Donato. "I was aware of what I was capable of here and it would have been a pity if I had not fulfilled my potential after training hard for so many years. I was lucky after four fouls but I managed to keep my focus.”

In the second semi-final of the men's 60m, Great Britain's Dwain Chambers ran a new European Indoor Record.

Russia's Anna Alminova won the women's 1500m ahead of Spain's Natalia Rodríguez and Slovenia's Sonja Roman.

"I changed my tactics from the heat yesterday (when she lead for the entire race) as I was a little tired after running in the 3000m heat this morning. But I'm not tired now. I am just hoping that I have enough energy for tomorrow 3000m final," said Alminova.

'Meet the new Yuriy Borzakovskiy. Yes, he was in fifth for all of 150m but by the end of the first 200m, the Athens Olympic champion had moved into a lead he was never to relinquish as he dominated the tactics and the race at will,' says the EAA report about the men's 800m semi-finals. Mattias Claesson of Sweeden won the second semi-final.

Estonian Ksenija Balta won the women's Long jump with a World leading result and a new national record 6.87m

“I knew I was in the type of form that would take me to 6.80,“ said Balta. “I thought I could be in contention for a medal. But I’d also seen the results of the Russians. I didn’t come here with any strong expectations of winning a gold medal. Now my next target is 7m in the summer."