AMSTERDAM - Dafne Schippers fired out an Olympic warning by blasting to the European 100m title on Friday, but Dutch teammate Churandy Martina missed out on a sprint double after being disqualified.
Netherlands' Dafne Schippers, pictured on July 8, 2016, completely dominated the 100m women semi-final race at the European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam, surging through the 50-metre mark to clock 10.90sec
In a dramatic session at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam featuring 11 finals, there was disaster for French world record pole vault holder Renaud Lavillenie while Turkey bagged its second and third gold medals thanks to its foreign legion.
The evening, however, belonged to Dutch starlet Schippers, 24, who defended her title in style clocking 10.90sec in a race she completely dominated after hitting her stride at 50 metres and turning on the afterburners.
"It was quite windy so it was difficult to set a good time, but I am shaping up well for Rio," said Schippers, with the Games just four weeks away.
There was drama for Martina, however, who crossed the line of the 200m with what he thought was a winning time of 20.37sec, just a day after sealing the 100m title.
But he was later shown to have strayed into another lane and was disqualified, Spain's Bruno Hortelano, in 20.45sec, handed gold.
Surprise package Turkey moved into provisional top place of the medals table thanks to two gold and three silver medals on the night, all won by foreign-born athletes.
First up was Cuban-born Yasmani Copello Escobar, who won the men's 400m hurdles in 48.98sec.
Next came Polat Kemboi Arikan, formely known as Paul Kipkosgei Kemboi, who beat Turkish teammate Ali Kaya -- once Kenyan Stanley Kiprotich Mukche -- to the men's 10,000m title.
There was also two more silvers for Turkey, in the men's 200m thanks to Azerbaijan-born sprinter Ramil Guliyev and the men's 3000m steeplechase with Kenyan-born Aras Kaya, formerly Amos Kibitok and only cleared to represent his new country four days ago.
The tone was set for Turkey's foreign legion when Kenyan-born teenager Yasemin Can, aka Vivian Jemutai, strode to victory in the championships' opening event, the women's 10,000m.
- Lavillenie blows cold -
Lavillenie, chasing a fourth European title, had a shocker in the pole vault, the Olympic champion only entering the competition after the 10 other vaulters had finished, at 5.75m.
But in blustery conditions, Lavillenie failed at each of his three attempts, leaving Poland's Robert Sobera with a shock gold, his best of 5.60m beating Czech Jan Kudlicka into silver on countback.
"The wind was making things very difficult for us," Lavillenie said. "But what frustrates me the most is that during the warm-up I cleared 5.80m twice without problems.
"I thought about starting at 5.70m, but after the warm-up I was confident that 5.75 would not be a problem.
"But hey, that's sport, I'll have to work hard now and try to do well in Rio."
It was, however, a good night for Croatia's Sandra Perkovic, who won her fourth successive European title with a best of 69.97m in the discus.
And two-time world hammer champion Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland also won her event for a third successive European title with a best of 78.14m from six fine efforts.
"I'm very happy with my third European title," she beamed. "It was a test and I'm really satisfied that each throw went farther.
"I know now I am physically and psychologically ready for the Olympics."
Briton Martyn Rooney and Cuban-born Italian Libania Grenot both defended their 400m titles, the former clocking 45.29sec to hold off Czech Pavel Maslak and the latter timing 50.73 to edge out Frenchwoman Floria Guei.
Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad went one better than teammate Guei when he coasted to victory in the 3000m steeplechase in 8:25.63 for a third European title.
And Serbia Ivana Spanovic bettered her silver from two years ago with long jump gold.