European Track Championships : In Cold Rain, Drechsler Ties Her 200 Mark

Heike Drechsler overcame the cold and a wet track to win the women’s 200-meter dash Friday, equaling the world record of 21.71 seconds for the second time this year and becoming the first double gold medalist in the European Track and Field Championships.

The 21-year-old East German, who won the long jump Wednesday, shares the 200 record with teammate Marita Koch.

Fatima Whitbread of Britain won the women’s javelin at 250 feet 5 inches after setting a world record of 254-1 during Thursday’s qualifying. Whitbread won it on her sixth and final throw, when the driving rain had stopped in Neckar Stadium.

The weather hampered the fourth day of competition. Most winners, including Drechsler, blamed the rain and cold for their failure to break world records.

That was the case with Sergei Bubka of the Soviet Union, who won the pole vault at 19-2 and missed three tries at a world-record 19-10, and with Yordanka Donkova of Bulgaria, who won the women’s 100-meter high hurdles in 12.38, just off her world record of 12.29.

Other winners Friday included Roger Black of Britain in the 400 meters in 44.59 seconds, Vladimir Krylov of the Soviet Union in the 200 meters in a slow 20.52, Hagen Melzer of East Germany in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 8:16.65, and Robert Emmiyan of the Soviet Union in the long jump at 27-7.

“With warmer weather and greater competition, I could have come under the world record,” Drechsler said. “But the cold and the wet track were just too much.”