Christophe Lemaitre became the first man to complete the European championship treble of 100, 200 and 4x100 metres relay but his efforts were not enough to put France above Russia in the final medals table on Sunday.
Russia ended the championships with 10 golds, two ahead of France on eight with Britain third on six.
There was joy for Croatia’s world champion Blanka Vlasic but disappointment for Turkey’s Elvan Abeylegesse, who did not quite have the legs to add the 5,000 to her 10,000 crown.
Lemaitre ran the second leg of the relay and quickly made up the stagger on Poland but Italy’s Emanuele Di Gregorio ran a blistering bend to hand over to Maurizio Checcucci in front.
France’s 100 metre bronze medallist Martial Mbandjock powered down the straight and overtook Checcucci just before the line to win in 38.44. The Italians were second and Germans third.
“Of all the medals I have this one feels the most important because it was a team effort,” said Lemaitre.
“We panicked a little in the last few metres when we saw the Italians right on our tail but Martial did an excellent job for us.”
It was third time lucky for high jumper Vlasic, who had finished outside the medals in the previous two Europeans.
“Now nobody can joke that I have two world titles and no European ones,” the 26-year old Croatian told reporters.
Vlasic equalled the championship record of 2.03 at the second attempt to earn Croatia their first medal.
Sweden’s Emma Green took silver in a personal best 2.01 and Germany’s Ariane Friedrich, distinctive in pink shoes and bleached hair in a quiff, needed three attempts at the distance for bronze.
Turkey’s Abeylegesse took Wednesday’s 10,000 gold with relentless front running but did not have a repeat performance in her.
Her compatriot Alemitu Bekele, like Abeylegesse originally from Ethiopia, led at bell and sprinted away for victory in a championship record 14:52.20. Sara Moreira of Portugal was third.
France got their second gold of the night in the men’s steeplechase after a battle between favourites Mahiedine Mekhissi-Benabbad and European record holder Bouabdallah Tahri.
Tahri was second and Spain’s Jose Luis Blanco took bronze.
The hosts ended the championships in fine style when Nuria Fernandez was the surprise winner of the women’s 1,500.
“I am crying as I cannot believe what I have done,” said Fernandez. “I have been fighting for this for 15 years and finally, at 33, got a gold medal.”
Russia’s European indoor champion Anna Alminova was favourite but she faded badly and Fernandez took victory with France’s Dehiba Hind in second
Germany’s Christian Reif broke the 24-year-old championship record with massive leap of 8.47 on his third attempt having been on the verge of elimination from the men’s long jump final.
France’s Kafetien Gomis snatched silver on his final jump with 8.24 to relegate Briton Chris Tomlinson to third.
There was another championship record in the discus when Poland’s Piotr Malachowski threw 68.87 to add European gold to his Olympic and world silvers.
Viktor Roethlin gave Switzerland their only medal when he broke after 25 km to set up a commanding marathon victory in 2:15.31 on a hot humid morning.
Former 10,000 metres European champion Jose Manuel Martinez of Spain was second and Russian Dmitriy Safronov third.
Russia ended their championships on a high with wins in the men’s and women’s 4x400 relays. Ukraine took the women’s 4x100.
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