ISRAEL star Lonah Salpeter made a monumental error in the European 5,000m final - stopping a lap early after thinking she had won silver.

TV commentators urged her to "Keep going! Keep going!" and millions of armchair viewers watched stunned as the runner made one of athletics' epic misjudgements.

13 Lonah Salpeter thinks she has won silver but there's still a lap to go Credit: AP:Associated Press

13 Lonah Salpeter throws up her hands in short-lived joy as she thinks the race is over and that she has won silver Credit: Getty - Contributor

The Kenyan-born ace surprised everyone with a sudden sprint finish 400 metres too early - flinging up her arms on the line to celebrate, before easing up behind race leader Sifan Hassan.

But Salpeter, 29, grimaced as Turkey's Yasemin Can and Brit Eilish McColgan cruised past her at a steady pace - and as she heard the bell to signal 400m to go, she realised her "lap's in concentration".

By then, though the damage had been done.

Salpeter's surge to what she thought was the end had drained both her energy and finishing power.

13 Sifan Hassan keeps going while Lonah Salpeter suffers the consequences of her misjudgement Credit: Getty - Contributor

13 Israeli athlete Lonah Salpeter thinks she has won the silver medal in the 5,000m Credit: Getty - Contributor

The sad Lonah fell to the ground in tears after eventually coming fourth in her "second finish".

The Kenyan-born athlete, who won the 10,000m earlier on Thursday to bring Israel their first ever women's gold medal at the European Championships, had to be helped to her feet by officials.

Worse was to come when Salpeter was then disqualified after footage showed she had briefly run inside a cone at the start of the race.

All the more extraordinary is that she still managed a time that would have marked the national record for her country.

13 The mistake dawns on Lonah Salpeter as she hears the bell for the final lap Credit: Sportsfile - Subscription

Despite her misfortune, she still won praise from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Lonah Chemtai, you are a true star! You have brought great honor to our country,” he tweeted after the race.

Dutch ace Hassan celebrated gold in a Championship record 14mins 46secs, while McColgan came second.

But for athletics fans in Berlin and TV followers at home it was Salpeter's medal mishap that will stand out as one of the moments of the Championships.

13 Lonah Salpeter realises the scale of the error that ruined her medal dream Credit: Getty Images - Getty

13 Lonah Salpeter weeps on the grass after finishing fourth Credit: Reuters

13 Officials help a tearful Lonah Salpeter after her amazing error Credit: Sportsfile - Subscription

13 Lonah Salpeter realises her monumental error cost her a medal Credit: Reuters

As the 29-year-old put in her dash to what she believed was the end line, the BBC TV commentator exclaimed: "It's a lap to go!

"Has Salpeter done the maths? she's going too hard here.

"Salpeter thought she'd finished. Oh, keep going! Keep going! Oh what a mistake!"

"You can see she thought that was the finishing line. And surely now she has wasted herself with that."

And so it proved. No gong but not forgotten.

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13 Lonah Salpeter gives it her all as she wrongly thinks she is just metres from a silver medal Credit: BBC

13 TV pictures showed Israeli runner Lonah Salpeter easing up after thinking she has won Euro 5,000m silver

13 Reality begins to dawn for Lonah Salpeter as she turns to see other runners still going steadily

Eilish McColgan of GB, who was ten metres behind in third, took full advantage, admitted that her first thought had been that she had misjudged the number of laps.

McColgan said: “I was really confused.

“In fact, I was really annoyed at myself because I thought I had timed it wrong.

"I was really tempted to stop, but I’m really glad I didn’t.”