The unfancied 31-year-old improved on her fourth-place finish at the 2006 edition, completing the course through the perpendicular streets of the Catalan capital in a season''s best time of 2:31.14.
Lithuanian Zivile Balciunaite shrugged off the cloying Mediterranean heat to claim gold in the women's marathon at the European championships in Barcelona on Saturday.
The unfancied 31-year-old improved on her fourth-place finish at the 2006 edition, completing the course through the perpendicular streets of the Catalan capital in a season''s best time of 2:31.14.
Russia's Nailya Yulamanova was second in 2:32.15 ahead of Italian Anna Incerti in 2:32.48.
With temperatures hovering around 27 degrees Celsius and the hot sun intermittently bursting through the clouds, Balciunaite was one of a pack of 11 runners leading the 43-strong field at the 25 kilometre mark.
Wearing a white baseball cap and a green vest and black running shorts, she then pulled away from her rivals and waved happily to the crowds, signed autographs and posed for photographs after crossing the line.
Still looking remarkably youthful at the age of 50, Merlene Ottey became the oldest athlete to compete at a European championships when she ran the final leg of the 4x100 metres heat for adopted country Slovenia earlier on Saturday.
The team came in seventh, meaning the Jamaica-born sprinter will not be appearing in Sunday's final. The nine-times Olympic medallist was nonetheless delighted with her landmark effort.
"On the anchor leg you have the fastest runners so it was a tough one for me," she told reporters.
She would now focus on qualifying for next year's world championships in South Korea and possibly an appearance at the Olympic Games in London in 2012, she added.
Big flow
In the women's heptathlon, world champion Jessica Ennis's overnight lead of 110 points over Ukrainian Nataliya Dobrynska was trimmed to 68 after Saturday''s long jump.
Briton Ennis, 24, managed a leap of 6.43 metres to extend her points tally by 985 to 5,065, while Dobrynska's jump of 6.56 gave her 1,027 points and a total of 4,997 with only the javelin and 800 metres to come.
"I've got to give it everything in the javelin and 800m," Ennis told the BBC. "It's definitely going to be tight, Dobrynska's right there."
Britain's hopes of a medal in the 4x100 metres relay were dashed when individual silver medallist Mark Lewis-Francis failed to collect the baton from Marlon Devonish and the team finished their heat a disappointing fifth.
"This is my fault, I've let the guys down," Lewis-Francis told the BBC. "Wow, it's such a big blow," he added. "I apologise sincerely to all the guys, I just cannot believe that happened."
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