Relay double continues British sprinting dominance in Birmingham

The Novuna Great Britain & Northern Ireland Team continued their sprinting dominance at the Birmingham 2026 European Championships with a brilliant relay double.

Amy Hunt (Marco Ariale) earned her third gold of the week by teaming up with Dina Asher-Smith (Blackheath & Bromley, Michael J Ford), Success Eduan (Sale Harriers Manchester, Anita Richardson) and Imani-Lara Lansiquot (Marco Ariale) for a convincing triumph in the women’s showpiece which ended day six.

Asher-Smith’s seventh European gold and 10th medal in all saw her become the most successful athlete in this competition’s history and it was the 30-year-old who got the host nation off to a flyer.

She handed to Hunt before Eduan set Lansiquot away to scorch clear down the home straight to the delight of the crowd inside the Alexander Stadium, with the clock stopping at 42.05s.

“I’m having the time of my life,” said Hunt.

“I’m standing next to some amazing women – Dina is the most decorated European athlete ever, Success delivers babies for a living and Imani wrote a play. They are just special people.”

That success came hot on the heels of Jeremiah Azu (Cardiff Athletics, Helen James), Louie Hinchcliffe (City of Sheffield and Dearne AC, Carl Lewis), Zharnel Hughes (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, Glen Mills) and Romell Glave (Croydon Harriers, Michael Afilaka) blitzing the field in the men’s 4x100m to win in 38.45s.

Azu, Hughes and Glave now have two medals apiece this week after finishing on the podium in their individual events.

The Welshman was on the opening leg for this success while there was no catching newly-crowned 100m Glave as he saw the team home.

“This is super sweet,” Azu said. “They came out in their numbers and they made noise. That is all we asked for.

“This team is incredible. At the start of the year, we set up these goals. We’re hitting them off one at a time. It is huge.”

The host nation occupied positions four, five and six in a men’s 1500m final which went down to the wire.
Jake Wightman (Edinburgh AC, Steve Hartigan) led around the final bend with Jake Heyward (Cardiff Athletics) in close attendance.

But a late burst from Stefan Nillessen saw the Dutchman take gold, with Heyward coming home fourth in 3:36.40 and Wightman sixth in 3:37.18, separated by Arlo Ludewick (Herne Hill Harriers, Norman Poole), who clocked 3:36.65.

Yemi Mary John (Woodford Green with Essex Ladies, Alan James) and Charlotte Henrich (Invicta East Kent, Nigel Stickings) finished fifth and sixth respectively in the women’s 400m final.

John crossed in 51.12s, with Henrich following close behind in 51.29s.

Henrich was a late addition to the field after Amber Anning (Brighton & Hove AC, Chris Johnson) after picking up an injury in the warm-up.

“I was hoping for a bit more,” John said. “That podium was nothing I haven’t run this season so I think it was well within reach. But fifth in Europe, I just have to take that and build on it.”

Henrich added: “It’s not the way I wanted to make the final and I hope Amber is OK.

“It is such a big learning and it just shows you can’t give up. Anything can happen and the Champs is not done until it is done.

“I have a lot more confidence in myself than I thought I ever would.”

Morgan Lake (Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow AC, Yannick Tregaro) finished eighth in the women’s high jump final after missing all three attempts at 1.92m.

“At a home championship, you always want to perform, but for the level that I’ve been at this year, it was actually good,” she said.

“I came into this competition with a season’s best of 1.88m, and I got 1.90m in the qualifying and then 1.88m again tonight. It’s where I’m at, which is sometimes hard, but I’m also just super proud of myself to be here.”

Jade O’Dowda (Newham & Essex Beagles AC, John Lane) finished 13th in the women’s heptathlon after rounding off her competition with a time of 2:16.62 in the 800m taking her to 870 points.

“It was a tough couple of days,” she said. “I have really mixed emotions and I know I’m in better shape than that. When you have bad days on these days, it’s unfortunate, but we’re human.”

Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Liverpool Harriers & AC, Aston Moore) clocked 2:24.92 and ended in 20th position overall on 758 points.

“I’ve had a really difficult season behind the scenes, and I didn’t know what form I was going to come here in,” she said.

“I obviously trusted in my ability to perform in major championships. I just didn’t have the preparation that I truly needed to be competitive.

“I had a wonderful time, and it was such a beautiful experience for me to be in Alexander Stadium.”

The men’s 10,000m saw a new Championship record of 27:23.44 set by Sweden’s Andreas Almgren in a race featuring three British contenders.

David Mullarkey (Leeds City Athletic Club, Andrew Henderson) finished 12th in 28:25.58, Scott Beattie (Morpeth Harriers & AC, Andrew Hobdell) was 15th in 28:50.35 and Joe Wigfield (Wirral AC, Craig Winrow) crossed 17th in 29:09.43.