BARCELONA: Lithuania’s Zivile Balciunaite put previous European misery behind her as she came out on top in punishing heat in Barcelona to win gold in Saturday’s women’s marathon.

The 31-year-old just missed out on a medal four years ago in Gothenburg but having targeted the European Championships all season, not even the high temperatures could stop her taking gold.

The veteran competitor was able to maintain her tempo in the second half of the race to finish in a time of 2hr 31min 14sec.

Russia’s Nailya Yulamanova and Italy’s Anna Incerti took silver and bronze respectively.

Elsewhere Briton Jessica Ennis is on-course to add the European heptathlon title to her world indoor and outdoor titles.

The 24-year-old, who missed the last Olympics through injury, has won almost everything else in her sights. Before coming to Barcelona she had already had a good season and unsurprisingly led the European standings.

With just two events to go, Ennis is leading the table with a score of 5065 points, having come third in the long jump competition behind the two Germans, Jennifer Oeser and Claudia Rath. Ahead just remain the Javelin and the 800m.

France raced into the final of the 4x100m relay without even calling on their double European champion Christophe Lemaitre. The 100m gold medal winner was rested and it was left to Martial Mbandjock, bronze medal winner in the 100m, to run France home in a time of 39.12secs.

Germany qualified in first place but the big surprise was the elimination of Great Britain, who was expected to challenge France for gold.

In the women’s event a clean sweep of the medals by Russia in the 400m demonstrated their dominance and they comfortably qualified for the final in a time of 3:26.89. Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre completed the sprint double on Friday by following up his 100m triumph with victory in the 200m.

Britain’s Christian Malcolm took second place in a tight finish, with Lemaitre’s compatriot Martial Mbandjock claiming the bronze.