Olympic champ Kaniskina leads Russian sweep of women’s 20K walk at European Championships

Kaniskina leads Russian sweep of Euros 20K walk

BARCELONA, Spain — Olga Kaniskina won gold in the women’s 20-kilometer walk at the European Championships, leading a Russian sweep of the medals in Wednesday’s event.

The Olympic champion made up for a silver performance four years ago with a season’s best time of 1 hour, 27 minutes, 44 seconds. Kaniskina never trailed after taking the lead after the 6-kilometer mark.

“I was a little afraid in the beginning of the race but then everything worked out fine,” the 25-year-old Kaniskina said. “I’m also very happy for the girls.”

Anisya Kirdyapkina won silver in 1:28:55 ahead of countrywoman Vera Sokolova, whose time of 1:29:32 clinched bronze in the hot conditions.

Four of the 22 women who started did not finish the race.

Russia leads the standings with five medals, with both its golds coming in the walk. Stanislav Emelyanov won the men’s event on Tuesday. Belarus, Britain and Italy are next with two medals apiece.

More medals will be handed out later Wednesday as France’s Christophe Lemaitre looks for his first major victory in the men’s 100-meter sprint.

Carolina Kluft is in the women’s long jump final, while medals will also be decided in the women’s discus and 10,000 meters and the men’s hammer throw.

European record holder Christine Arron of France advanced to the women’s 100-meter semifinals on Wednesday, but Alena Nevmerzhitskaya of Belarus — whose 11.05 is the fastest European time this season — did not.

Defending champion Periklis Iakovakis of Greece also reached the men’s 400-meter hurdle semifinals.