Sawyers and Hunter Bell safely through on day six

Georgia Hunter Bell and Jazmin Sawyers were among those to qualify for finals on the morning session of day six at the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham.

Hunter Bell (Belgrave Harriers, Trevor Painter), who claimed Commonwealth Games gold over 800m in Glasgow, won the opening 1500m heat in 4:08.97 to give herself a shot at upgrading the silver she won in Rome two years ago.

“I feel pressure, but in a good way,” she said. “I’m really embracing pressure this year.

“I think it would be amazing to see if getting four majors in a year is possible: two down, two more to go. It’s a great opportunity tomorrow so I’m going to go for it.”

Laura Muir (Dundee Hawkhill, Laura Weightman) and Katie Snowden (Herne Hill Harriers, Stephen Haas) missed out on the final after finishing eighth and 11th in the second heat.

“It’s mixed emotions,” said Muir, who finished in 4:09.66. “I’m pleased with how I ran there, I put myself in the best position possible to make the top six.

“I just had a few setbacks the past few weeks after the Commonwealth Games where I hurt my ankle, so it was only yesterday it felt great.

“That was a really competitive round, the girls were so fast and I had to be at my best to make the final, let alone get on the podium. I gave it my best shot and I’m proud of that.”

Snowden, who clocked 4:11.49, said: “I’m gutted to miss out on that top six. I got a virus in Glasgow at the Commonwealth Games, so that was always disappointing but I really felt like two weeks on I’d recovered and was going to go a lot better here.

“It was frustrating to kind of feel the same, just lethargic and didn’t have that kick when it was needed.”

Sawyers (City of Stoke AC, Aston Moore), like Hunter Bell, also arrived in Birmingham fresh from a Commonwealth Games gold and continued her fine form by making the qualification distance with her first jump.

The 32-year-old, who first medalled at this competition in 2016, leapt 6.90m to make it straight through to Sunday’s final.

“One jump and done is the absolute ideal situation for a horizontal field event and it has been a little while since I’ve been able to pull it off,” she said.

“Having done the Commonwealths, I know I’m in good condition and good shape. I know I’m ready and I feel good about that.”

Sawyers will be joined in the final by Molly Palmer (Thames Valley Harriers, Lukasz Zawila), who qualified in eighth with a 6.72m PB.

“I have been reaching for a PB the whole of the outdoor season,” she said.

“I did 6.68 indoors and thought I would build on that outdoors but it was a bit of a slow start to my season.

“To produce a PB now, when it matters, I couldn’t be happier. I’m glad everything is coming together now – it’s the time to do it.”

Lucy Hadaway missed out on progressing as she finished 22nd with a best jump of 6.33m.

“I’m very disappointed in my jumps, especially in front of an amazing home crowd,” she said.

“I know I’m in great form but I couldn’t portray it out there.”

Cameron Corbishley (Medway and Maidstone, Andi Drake) recorded a new PB as he finished 19th in the men’s marathon race walk.

It marks a new best finish at a major championships for the 29-year-old, who said: “I’m pleased I could hold it together technically, especially when I found it tough in the last 10km.

“Over the next two years, I want to focus on trying to qualify for the Olympics, which is a half marathon. So probably going to take a bit of a different approach to my training to try and improve that top end speed.”

Jade O’Dowda (Newham & Essex Beagles AC, John Lane) sits 13th in the heptathlon with 5321 points after the third session of the competition.

O’Dowda produced the ninth-best long jump of the competition with a best effort of 6.95m, before throwing 41.56m in the javelin.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Liverpool Harriers & AC, Aston Moore) occupies 19th position, after efforts of 5.77m in the high jump and 36.92m in the javelin throw.

They will both go in the final event, the 800m, in the first event of the evening session at 7:45pm.