Christophe Lemaitre became the first man to complete the European championship treble of 100, 200 and 4x100 metres relay but his efforts were not enough to put France above Russia in the final medals table on Sunday. Russia ended the championships with 10 golds, two ahead of France on eight with Britain third on six.
There was joy for Croatia's world champion Blanka Vlasic but disappointment for Turkey's Elvan Abeylegesse, who did not quite have the legs to add the 5,000 to her 10,000 crown. Lemaitre ran the second leg of the relay and quickly made up the stagger on Poland but Italy's Emanuele Di Gregorio ran a blistering bend to hand over to Maurizio Checcucci in front. France's 100 metre bronze medallist Martial Mbandjock powered down the straight and overtook Checcucci just before the line to win in 38.44. The Italians were second and Germans third.
"Of all the medals I have this one feels the most important because it was a team effort," said Lemaitre. Vlasic equalled the championship record of 2.03 at the second attempt to earn Croatia their first medal. Sweden's Emma Green took silver in a personal best 2.01 and Germany's Ariane Friedrich, distinctive in pink shoes and bleached hair in a quiff, needed three attempts at the distance for bronze.
Turkey's Abeylegesse took Wednesday's 10,000 gold with relentless front running but did not have a repeat performance in her. Germany's Christian Reif broke the 24-year-old championship record with massive leap of 8.47 on his third attempt having been on the verge of elimination from the men's long jump final.