By David Monti

(c) 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

GÖTEBORG (11-Aug) -- Unheralded Jukka Keskisalo of Finland rallied in the final lap of tonight's 3000m steeplechase final to shock the field and earn the first-ever steeplechase gold medal at a European Championships for Finland.  It was also the first gold medal for Finland at these championships.

"For me it's a big dream," said Keskisalo, who had battled injuries for the past two seasons.  "Finnish long distance runners have won almost everything, (except this)."

Poking along for the first kilometer in 2:56.6 --just slightly faster than Paul Tergat's marathon world record pace-- the field looked incredibly tentative.  It wasn't until Mustafa Mohamed of Sweden, buoyed by the roar of the partisan crowd packing Ullevi Stadium, took the reins with five laps to go and picked up the pace.  The second kilometer was a bit faster (2:49.73), but still the field hung together.  

Mohamed was still leading with two laps to go when Spain's Jose Luis Blanco accelerated hard on the homestretch to take the bell.  Mohamed was right behind him, but Keskisalo was still back in the pack.  The Finn wasn't worried.

We were planning last September if I was with the pack I could win," Keskisalo said.  "So just push it on."

Rounding turn 3 and heading into the final water jump, the 25 year-old Finn burst around on the outside, his long strides getting stronger with each meter.  He couldn't be touched in the homestretch, sizzling the last lap in under 60 seconds and assuring Finland of at least one gold medal at this meet.  His finish time of 8:24.89 was the slowest recorded at a European Championships since 1971.  

Was he surprised to get the gold?

"Yes, of course," he said matter of factly.  "I was going for a medal so victory was an amazing thing."

Blanco held on for silver in 8:26.22 and Bouabdellah Tahri of France emerged from the trailing pack to get the bronze in 8:27.15.  Mohamed, who did most of the work in the middle of the race, finished fourth, 64/100ths of a second behind Tahri.

A prerace favorite for a medal, Simon Vroemen of the Netherlands, the European record holder, did not start due to food poisoning he contracted on Wednesday.

The Russian women, who won gold and silver at the IAAF World Championships in the 1500m last summer, dominated this morning's qualifying round of the 1500m.  Yuliya Chizhenko, who was disqualified from last summer's World Championships final in a shoving incident, led the first heat in 4:05.74 with last summer's silver medalist, Olga Yegorova, finishing just behind her.  In the second heat Daniela Yordanova of Bulgaria was an easy winner in 4:05.72 with Yelena Soboleva of Russia, who ran a world indoor record 3:58.28 in Moscow last February, second.  Lisa Dobriskey of Great Britain, the Commonwealth Games gold medalist, was eliminated, finishing seventh in heat 2.  Her teammate, Hellen Clitheroe, advanced on time.  The final is set for Sunday afternoon.

The women's marathon gold medal will be handed out tomorrow as 34 women will run a four loops of the city beginning at 12:10.  Only one of the 2002 medalists are competing: Luminita Zaituc of Germany who won the silver in Munich.  The medal favorites are Albina Ivanova and Alevtina Biktimirova of Russia, and Bruna Genovese of Italy.  Conditions are expected to be reasonably cool; showers are possible.

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