( CNN ) -- Young French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre confirmed his growing reputation as a track star with a confident 100-meters victory at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona on Wednesday night . The 20-year-old , the first white man to break 10 seconds at the distance , timed his run to perfection as his main rival Dwain Chambers of Britain missed out on a medal in a tight finish . Lemaitre came home in a winning time of 10.11 seconds to take the gold , with Chambers ' teammate Mark Lewis-Francis handed silver in a four-man photo finish from Martial Mbandjock , another Frenchman . Lewis-Francis , Mbandjock , Chambers and defending champion Francis Obikwelu all clocked 10.18 . `` I gave it everything I had , it was a very good race , '' Lemaitre , who was fastest in the earlier semifinals in 10.06 , told reporters . `` I was worried at the start , but after that I ran the kind of race I normally run . I knew I had a chance of a medal , even winning gold . '' Chambers , the current world indoor 60m champion who won relay gold in Stockholm four years ago on return after his ban for drug use , put on a brave face after his disappointing finish . `` I had to rely on my experience , which kept me relaxed , but it was n't enough to win . I 've just got to keep on ploughing at it until my opportunity prevails , '' said the 32-year-old , who won silver in 1998 and then had to return his gold in 2002 after being caught using steroids . Lemaitre 's heat featured another strong performance from Irish Paralympian Jason Smyth , who is the first legally blind athlete to compete at the European Championships . The partially-sighted 23-year-old finished fourth in the eight-man heat in a time of 10.46 , but even his personal best of 10.32 would not have been enough to reach the final . Turkish runner Elvan Abeylegesse of Turkey won the women 's 10,000m title , finishing 12 seconds ahead of Russia 's defending champion Inga Abitova , with Jessica Augusto of Portugal taking bronze . Abeylegesse won silver medals in the distance at the 2008 Olympics and 2009 world championships . Russia had a clean sweep of the medals in the women 's 20-kilometer walk , as Olympic and world champion Olga Kaniskina went one better than her silver in 2006 . Anisya Kirdyapkina , 21 , took the silver while Vera Sokolova claimed bronze as the Russians followed up the victory of teenage compatriot Stanislav Emelyanov in the men 's race on Tuesday . Latvia 's Ineta Radevica claimed a shock gold in the women 's long jump , with the 29-year-old heading off Portugal 's 2006 silver medallist Naide Gomes in a tie-breaker after both leaped 6.92 meters . Olga Kucherenko was third in 6.84 while her fellow Russian and defending champion Lyudmila Kolchanova was back in fifth on 6.55 . Former Olympic heptathlon champion Carolina Kluft was 11th of the 12 finalists on 6.33 . Slovakia 's top-ranked Libor Charfreitag won the men 's hammer final with a best throw of 80.02 meters , while Italy 's Nicola Vizzoni claimed silver with 79.12 and bronze went to Hungary 's Krisztian Pars ( 79.06 ) . Croatia 's 20-year-old rising star Sandra Perkovic won the women 's discus title with a best throw of 64.67 , while Romania 's 2006 bronze medallist Nicoleta Grasu was second with 63.48 and Poland 's Joanna Wisniewska took third with 62.37 . Germany 's Nadine Muller , who has thrown the furthest this year with 67.78 in May , finished back in eighth on a disappointing 57.78 .
Christophe Lemaitre claims gold medal in 100 m at European Championships . The 20-year - old sprinter clocks a time of 10.11 seconds in Barcelona . Britain 's Mark Lewis - Jones handed bronze medal in two - way photo finish on 10.18 . Jason White , the first legally blind athlete to compete , was fourth in men 's semifinal .