Sara Moreira (© Getty Images)
Portugal's Sara Moreira and Polat Kemboi Arikan of Turkey won the European Cup 10,000m titles in Bilbao, Spain, on Sunday (3).
Moreira successfully defended her title with a personal best of 31:23.51, the fastest by a European this season. Her mark was also well inside the Olympic A standard (31:45.00) as was the runner-up, Jo Pavey of Great Britain, who clocked 31:32.22.
Pavey narrowly missed selection to the British Olympic squad for the marathon but is now one big step closer to a fourth Olympic appearance.
Christelle Daunay, the French national record-holder in the marathon, was third in 31:35.81 to finally add the 10,000m to her national record accolades. The previous French standard, 31:42.83, was set by Rosario Murcia in 1992.
Running in his debut over the distance, Kemboi Arikan clocked 27:56.28 in the men's race, comfortably ahead of the Spanish trio of Ayad Lamdassem, Carles Castillejo and Miguel Ángel Penas who clocked 28:04.22, 28:07.50 and 28:33.99, respectively.
Kemboi Arikan, the former Kenyan Paul Kipkosgei Kemboi, missed the Olympic A standard by some 11 seconds but was well within the 28:05 B standard.
Spain took the men's team title by more than a minute ahead of Portugal with France finishing third.
Great Britain captured its first women's team crown with a 14-second margin over Italy. Portugal, the team winner nine times, was third on this occasion.
Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
