GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Aug 7 - Home favourite Carolina Kluft looked set for a
comfortable heptathlon victory at the European athletics championships on Monday
but the injury-withdrawal of arch-rival Eunice Barber ruined the show.
France's Barber, who came second to the bubbly Swede at the last two world
championships, was in the lead after two events when a sore left thigh forced
her out and cut short what promised to be one of the most exciting duels of the
week-long festival.
"It is sad for the competition and the crowd and it is sad for her but it
does not affect me as a competitor," Kluft said of Barber's misfortune, after
which she took control ahead of British pair Kelly Sotherton and Jessica Ennis.
After four of the two-day combined event's seven disciplines, the Olympic,
world and European champion topped the standings on 3,990 points, with Sotherton
124 points back and Ennis a further five points adrift.
Neither Briton is probably strong enough to trouble Kluft in Tuesday's last
three contests and the dominant 23-yer-old Swede should cruise towards yet
another gold medal.
Barber, regarded as the only athlete capable of gatecrashing Kluft's home
party, clocked the fastest time in the opening 100 metres hurdles before
matching the Swede in the high jump as both athletes cleared 1.89 metres.
Kluft, competing at a major championship in her home country for the first
time, was in second place, 36 points back, when Barber pulled out.
"I felt it first yesterday," the Frenchwoman said of the training injury that
ended her challenge. "The physios tried everything. It's a pity because I was
feeling strong but to complete a heptathlon you have to be at 100 percent."
Kluft, whose preparations have been hampered by a sore hamstring, worried a
partisan crowd by managing only the fifth-fastest time in 13.35 seconds in the
hurdles.
GREAT ATMOSPHERE
She soon bounced back, punching the air after clearing 1.89 metres at her
first attempt in the high jump.
The competition looked wide open until it emerged that Barber would go no
further.
The eagerly-awaited battle between the world's top two female athletes had
started in a great atmosphere, the pair cheering each other on and the fans
happily obeying Barber's requests for applause before her attempts.
After Barber went, Kluft went on with the second-best throw of 14.56 metres
in the shot put before placing third in her 200 metres heat in 23.86 seconds.
