Mehdi Baala of France won the men's 1500m at the European Championships in a dramatic photo-finish.

Baala took gold from defending champion Reyes Estevez of Spain by the smallest possible margin.

The Frenchman was marginally ahead in the closing strides, but a late lunge by Estevez made the result too close to call.

At first it appeared that it may be called a dead heat as both runners were given the same time of three minutes 45.25 seconds.

The officials took several minutes looking at photos, and confusion reigned as they attempted to separate them before Baala was given the nod by 0.002s.

Estevez had already begun a lap of honour thinking he had been awarded joint gold.

Rui Silva of Portugal took the bronze medal in a time of 3:45.43.

In a slow race, the British trio of Michael East, John Mayock and Anthony Whiteman all found themselves out of contention.

East, who collected a surprise gold at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, was the highest-placed Briton in sixth place.