The combined efforts of Andreas Thorkildsen, Blanka Vlasic and the team's women runners saw Europe overtake the Americas and claim victory in the Continental Cup athletics meet Sunday. Europe scored a total of 429 points to win the two-day meet, finishing just 9.5 points ahead of the Americas, which had led after the first day. David Rudisha of Kenya clocked 1 minute, 43.37 seconds to win the 800 race – after breaking the world record twice in the past two weeks in Berlin and Rieti – but Africa still finished third with 292 points. It was Rudisha's last event of the season. Asia-Pacific was fourth on 286.5 points. Norway's Thorkildsen, the current Olympic, world and European javelin champion, sealed victory in his event Sunday with a throw of 89.26 meters. Croatia's Vlasic won with 2.05 meters in the high jump, although she failed in her latest attempt to break the 23-year-old world record. Russian Tatyana Lysenko, current European champion, claimed the women's hammer throw with 73.88 meters. Yipsi Moreno of Cuba was third with 72.73. Europe's runners were victorious in three women's competitions: Russian Aleksandra Fedoriva won the 200 in 22.86 seconds and her compatriot, Yuliya Zarudneva, took the 3,000 steeplechase in 9:25.46. Hind Dehiba Chahyd of France claimed the 1,500 with 4:19.78. In men's 800, Rudisha was followed by Marcin Lewandowski of Poland, who came 1.44 behind. The Americas team won five of 20 competitions: David Oliver, the bronze medalist from the Beijing Games, claimed the men's 110 hurdles, finishing in 13.11, ahead of Andrew Turner of Britain. American Wallace Spearmon took the 200 in 19.95, while Bernard Lagat won the 3,000. The Americas team also won both the men's and women's 4X400 relay races. The men's team – Nery Brenes, Bershawn Jackson, Greg Nixon and Ricardo Chambers –finished in 2:59.0. Shericka Williams, Debbie Dunn, Nickiesha Wilson and Christine Amertil won their race in 3:26.37. European sprint king Christophe Lemaitre took advantage of the missing Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay to clinch victory in the 100m Saturday. World record holder Bolt has ended his season while US sprinter Gay was taking part only in the relay, leaving the field open for French ace Lemaitre to win in 10.06sec. At least Gay had the consolation of helping the Americas team win the 4x100m relay after a baton blunder by the Europeans. Gay, Wallace Spearmon, Daniel Bailey and Churandy Martina cruised home to win in 38.25sec after the French quartet messed up their final exchange between Pierre-Alexis Pessonneuax and Teddy Tinmar and failed to finish. Kazakhstan's Olga Rypakova, representing Asia/Pacific, registered one of the day's most impressive performances winning the triple jump in 15.25m, the seventh best leap of all-time. Another competition record was set in the men's 400m as Jeremy Wariner led home an Americas one-two. Wariner clocked 44.24sec with Jamaican Ricardo Chambers in second place in 44.59sec. Svetlana Feofanova cleared 4.70m at the third time of asking to add the polevault title to her European crown. The men's 400m hurdles saw Britain's David Greene win in a personal best of 47.88sec, stunning American favourite Bershawn Jackson who was third.
