A statistical look back at the women’s events at the Zurich 2014 European Championships

It’s stat time again! Steven Mills recaps the European Championships in Zurich with some of the top facts and figures from the women’s events.

You can find stats on the men’s events here.

Women’s sprints

» British sprinters claimed medals in the 100m and 200m for the first time at the European Champs since 1969.

» Having not had a European 200m finalist since 1982, three Brits progressed to the final for the first time since 1962.

» Dutch heptathlete Dafne Schippers’ 22.03 is the fastest time by a European over 200m since Irina Privalova’s 21.87 in Monaco in July 1995.

» Schippers’ winning margin of 0.43 was the biggest since Privalova won the 1994 title by 0.45.

» Her winning time was also the third fastest after Heike Drechsler’s 21.71 in 1986, and Katrin Krabbe’s 21.95 in 1990.

» A winning time outside 50-seconds was sufficient for the 400m title for just the second time since 1974 when automatic timing began.

» Russia didn’t field an individual 400m finalist after winning at least one medal from the last six European finals.

» Meanwhile, 400m winner Libania Grenot became the first Italian woman to win a track title since 1938.

» After winning the world 400m title by 0.004 last year, Britain’s Christine Ohuruogu lost out on the bronze medal in Zurich by 0.002.

Women’s hurdles/relays

» Tiffany Porter became the first British woman to win a sprint hurdles title at the European Champs and the first medallist since 1958 when the women ran 80m hurdles.

» Her winning margin of 0.03 was the second smallest since automatic timing began.

» British hurdler Eilidh Child’s winning margin in the 400m hurdles of 0.08 was the smallest in European Champs history.

» The same nation won the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles titles at the European Champs for the first time.

» GB’s winning 4x100m relay time of 42.24 was the fastest since East Germany won in 1990 in 41.68.

» GB’s national record of 42.24 makes them the ninth fastest all-time nation in the 4x100m relay.

» At 17 years and 170 days, Kristina Sivkova became the youngest ever Russian medallist with bronze in the 4x100m.

» France’s winning margin of 0.05 in the 4x400m final was by far the smallest in European Champs history since automatic timing began.

» Floria Guei ran a 49.71 anchor to secure the title, compared to Olha Zemlyak’s 50.62 for Ukraine.

» The splits for the bronze medal-winning GB team in the final were: Eilidh Child 51.3, Kelly Massey 50.9, Shana Cox 51.26, Margaret Adeoye 50.76.

Women’s middle and long-distance

» Maryna Arzamasava of Belarus claimed the 800m title some 28 years after her mother Ravilya Agletdinova won the European 1500m title.

» Lynsey Sharp ensured a British medal for the fifth European 800m final in succession.

» Joanna Jozwik lowered her PB from 2:01.32 to 1:59.63 during the champs to claim Poland’s first ever medal over 800m.

» Sifan Hassan claimed the first Dutch medal from the 1500m since the inaugural final in 1969, while Abeba Aregawi became Sweden’s first ever medallist in the event.

» Meraf Bahta’s winning time in the 5000m of 15:31.39 was the slowest at the European Champs by 16.63.

» Hassan became the first woman to win medals at 1500m and 5000m at the same champs.

» The gap of 0.29 between the third-placer and fourth-placer in the steeplechase was the smallest in European Champs history.

» Germany won their first gold medal in the women’s steeplechase, while Sweden picked up their first medal of any colour in the event.

» Jo Pavey’s winning time in the 10,000m of 31:46.83 was the slowest at the European Champs by 45.56.

» As has been well documented, Pavey became the oldest woman to win a European title at 40 years and 226 days.

» Pavey became just the third runner to win multiple 10,000m medals after Fernanda Ribeiro (1994/98) and Sonia O’Sullivan (1998/2002).

Women’s jumps

»  Ruth Beitia of Spain became the second woman to defend their high jump title after Iolanda Balas in 1962.

» Anzelika Sidorova became the fourth Russian winner of the pole vault from six European finals, while Russians took multiple medals for the third time.

» Overall, the Russians have won seven out of the eighteen medals on offer from European pole vault finals.

» France’s Eloyse Lesueur became the second jumper after Heike Drechsler, who won four titles, to defend their European title.

» Russian Darya Klishina’s 6.65m was the shortest medal-winning distance since 1974.

» Olha Saladuha of Ukraine became the second jumper after Drechsler to win more than two European titles in the jumps.

Women’s throws

» Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland’s winning throw in the hammer of 78.76m was the third longest ever and the second longest at a major champs.

» Her winning margin of 4.10m was the longest in European Champs history.

» Wlodarczyk also became the first hammer thrower to win three medals at the European Champs.

» Evgeniya Kolodko ensured a Russian medal for the sixth European shot put final in succession.

» Sandra Perkovic of Croatia became the second woman to surpass the 70m-mark in the discus at the European Champs and she came within 28cm of GDR’s Diana Gansky’s champs record from 1986.

» Perkovic’s winning mark of 71.08m was also the world’s longest throw since 1992 and she became just the second female thrower to win three or more European titles in a throwing event.

» Her winning mark also improved ex-world record-holder Faina Melnik’s 39-year-old Swiss all-comers’ record of 70.20m.

» Linda Stahl ensured a German medal for the 12th European javelin final in succession.

» Javelin runner-up Tatjana Jelaca became the first Serbian medallist in a throwing event.

Other events

» Antoinette Nana Djimou became the fourth woman to defend a European multi-events title after Galina Bistrova, Sabine Braun and Carolina Kluft.

» Belgian bronze medallist Nafissatou Thiam’s 1.97m high jump was the best in a European Champs heptathlon by 5cm and matched the best ever high jump in a heptathlon.

» As well as setting a championship record, Christelle Daunay’s winning marathon time of 2:25:14 was also the fastest time on Swiss soil.

» This was Daunay’s first marathon win from ten starts.

»  Elmira Alembekova’s winning time in the 20km walk of 1:27:56 was the slowest at the European Champs.

» She also became the third Russian winner from four editions of the 20km walk.

» The August 21 edition of Athletics Weekly was a bumper special and featured 54 pages of in-depth reports, results, news and photos from the European Championships. You can order a copy here or read it online here