Athletics: Bad day for Szabo as Turk hangs on to claim honours

The unheralded Turk Sureyya Ayhan ran the fastest time in the world this year to upset the world champion Gabriela Szabo in the women's 1,500 metres here yesterday.

Ayhan, whose previous best result was an eighth place at the last worlds in Edmonton, held off Szabo in the final straight to win in 3min 58.79sec, with the Romanian settling for silver for the second time in a row at the European Championships 3:58.81.

The Turk cut over four seconds off her own personal best time and over two seconds off the previous season's world best. It was an unexpected defeat for the reigning Olympic and two-time defending champion in the 5,000m.

The world record holder and three-time world champion Wilson Kipketer of Denmark won the men's 800m, taking a measure of revenge for his shock loss at the last Olympics.

Kipketer, who was upstaged in Sydney by Nils Schumann, answered back in Munich, taking the German's title in front of his home crowd in 1:47.25.

Schumann settled for bronze in 1:47.60 behind the world champion Andre Bucher of Switzerland, who got a sluggish season back on track with the silver in 1:47.43. The Swiss racer suffered a stress fracture in his left foot last April and could not run for 10 weeks.

The Kenyan-born Kipketer stayed with the pack until the final 230m, then accelerated going into the final bend. Schumann tried to follow but did not have enough power and was then overtaken by Bucher in the final few metres.

Schumann's failure to defend his title leaves the hosts with just one gold medal so far.

The youngest racer in the field, Janne Holmen of Finland splashed to victory in the men's marathon to collect the first major international title of his short career.

Only 24 years old, Holmen ignored the driving rain and cold temperatures, grabbed the lead early in the race and charged solo to victory in 2hr 12min 14sec. The 1999 European Under-23 silver medalist in the 10,000m, Holmen finished over a minute faster than his closest challenger Pavel Loskutov of Estonia, who took the silver in 2:13.18.

It was also Loskutov's first medal at a major championship, though, at 32, the Estonian had to wait a lot longer.

Spain's Julio Rey, who finished fourth in his debut at the London marathon in 1998, placed third in 2:13.21. The Spaniard, who failed a drug test after finishing third in Rotterdam in 1999, is recently back from a two-year doping ban.

Anchored by Odiah Sidibé, France's women's defended their title in the 4x100m relay, winning in 42.46sec, ahead of runners-up Germany and Russia, who placed third.

Sidibé overcame a deficit on the final leg to beat the hosts, who crossed in 42.54. The Russians clocked 43.11.

With no improvement on the rainy conditions the women's high jump did not produce any exceptional heights, as world leader Kajsa Bergqvist of Sweden lifted the title with 1.98m.

Russia's Marina Kuptsova, who jumped 1.92, took the silver, while her team-mate Olga Kaliturina claimed the bronze with an unexceptional 1.89.