European Indoor Championships, Madrid, ESP, Day 3

Chris Lambert - delighted with his first major medal

Drawn in lane 5 of the 200m final, Chris Lambert had Tobias Unger (Germany) in his sights. Neither had been beaten in the earlier rounds and although Chris had set personal records in each race, the German went into the final one tenth of a second faster.

At the starting gun, Unger blitzed away to a terrific start and although the back straight saw the Belgrave man pulling him back a little, getting on even terms with a man who was in the process of breaking his national record proved impossible.

It was a marvellous run by Chris - yet another personal record - and at the post-race interviews he told interviewers:

"I couldn't imagine winning a silver medal in this championships at the beginning of the indoor season as that was not my primary goal this year, but I have been improving my performances race by race. I'm delighted with my first major medal".

Unfortunately he may not get the chance to go one better next time around as, with the advantage always plainly with the those in the outside lanes, this was the last time the 200m is planned to be held in the European Indoor Championships.

200m: 1 T Unger (GER) 20.53; 2 C Lambert (GBR) 20.69; 3 M Urbas (POL) 21.04.

Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.