Tatyana Chernova gained a gold medal as reward for two gruelling days of competition, amassing a championship record total of 5875.
The Russian set two personal bests on her way to establishing a margin of victory of 264 points over her compatriot, Yana Panteleyeva (5611). Germany’s Diana Rach was third with 5481.
Chernova began day one with a personal best of 13.62 in the hurdles and followed that with 1.69m in the high jump, after which Panteleyeva was in the overall lead.
Chernova threw 10.79m in the shot to move up from third to second. However, despite clocking 24.79 in the 200m, she stayed behind Panteleyeva at the end of the first day.
An excellent long jump of 6.13m moved Chernova into the lead for the first time and she virtually sealed victory with a massive throw of 48.20m in the sixth event, the javelin.
The real interest in the 800m, therefore, was on the destination of the minor medals. Rach led Panteleyeva by 81 points for second.
Panteleyeva assured herself the silver with 2:21.38 in the final heat, compared to Rach’s 2:39.01.
Chernova, meanwhile, ran 2:21.91 to make sure of the gold.
It should be noted Chernova’s score was achieved using 76.2cm, youth-height hurdles rather than the senior barriers in the opening event.
