Likourgos-Stefanos Tsakonas of Greece and James Alaka of Great Britain were expected to battle for the 200m title and in the end it was decided in favour of Tsakonas who handled the headwind better than his rival, winning in a personal best 20.56. In third was an ecstatic Pavel Maslak who gave the crowd something to celebrate. “I believed in this victory even if the opponents were so strong,” said the winner.

In a thrilling 400m, Nigel Levine of Great Britain pocketed gold from Ireland’s Brian Gregan with another Briton, Luke Lennon-Ford, getting up for bronze. “The gold medal was my biggest motivation,” said Levine. “It was not an easy race. Finally, after I was silver two years ago in Kaunas, I took the victory.”

Sindre Boraas made it a distance double for Norway as he loped to 5000m gold in a slow 14:22.69. Silver went to Britain’s Ross Millington and bronze to 19-year-old Jesper Van Der Wielen of the Netherlands. In the end it came down to a hell for leather sprint but the Norwegian proved the strongest: “I started to make some position in the group and I think that tactics worked for me.