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Britain finish with flourish on final day

13/08/2006

Britain ended the European Championships on a high with silver medals in the men's 5000m and 4x40m relay.

Mo Farah clinched silver in the 5,000m final after being edged out at the line by Spain's Jesus Espana.

The 23-year-old was leading with 400m remaining but was pipped by Espana while Juan Carlos Higuero took third in a gripping battle with four athletes competing for three medals at the finish.

Farah told the BBC afterwards he was slightly disappointed that he had not won the gold.

"I wanted to win and it was close. I gave it all I could and saw a gap", he said.

"I tried but it wasn't enough. I've worked hard and it is paying off slowly, hopefully we'll be back at the top like Brendan Foster and Steve Cram."

Britain added to their earlier gold in the 4x100m relay with a silver in the 4x400m race after a terrific run from Tim Benjamin on the last leg.

Benjamin overcame Poland's Daniel Dabrowski in the home straight to clinch victory following solid run from teammates Robert Tobin, Rhys Williams and Graham Hedman.

Favourites France took gold ahead of Poland after bringing back dangermen Marc Raquill, the 400m gold medallist, and Leslie Djhone for the final.

Elsewhere, Russia's Lyudmila Kolchanova claimed gold in the women's long jump with her third round effort of 6.93m with Portugal's Portugal's Naide Gomes took silver with 6.79.

Kolchanova's compatriot Oksana Udmurtova came third with 6.69m while home favourite Carolina Kluft failed to add to her heptathlon gold, finishing sixth.

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