Great Britain concluded the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham with a spectacular flourish, led by a historic mixed 4x100m relay victory that saw Amy Hunt and Dina Asher-Smith cement their places in the record books. The home nation finished the event with 19 medals, marking a successful end to the first European Athletics Championships ever hosted in the UK.
Sprint sensation Amy Hunt, 24, secured an unprecedented fourth gold medal of the week after holding off Germany’s Gina Luckenkemper on the home straight. The quartet, which also featured Jeremiah Azu and Zharnel Hughes, clocked a European record time of 39.97 seconds. This victory added to Hunt’s previous triumphs in the 100m, 200m, and women’s 4x100m events over the past seven days. “Oh my gosh, I am over the moon. I think to finish it off with some of my best friends in the sport is incredible,” Hunt said Sport.
Dina Asher-Smith, a 22-time international medallist, further cemented her legacy by becoming the most successful athlete in the competition’s 92-year history, boasting 11 total medals including eight golds. Hunt hailed her teammate as “the real life GOAT,” noting that Asher-Smith’s record-equalling seventh gold came a decade after her first major title.
In the middle-distance events, Georgia Hunter Bell continued her remarkable resurgence by winning the women’s 1500m final in 4:07.78. Finishing more than a second ahead of Poland’s Klaudia Kazimierska, Hunter Bell added this title to her world indoor and Commonwealth Games successes. The 32-year-old, who previously stepped away from the sport for five years, is now aiming to complete a quadruple of major titles at the inaugural World Ultimate Championships this September.
The British team’s dominance in the sprints was evident, as they secured six out of a possible seven gold medals in those events. Zharnel Hughes, who handed the baton to Hunt during the relay, became the most successful British man in the history of the championships, earning his sixth gold medal.
Despite the host nation’s strong performance, they were narrowly edged out for the top spot in the overall medal table by Italy. The Italians secured the final gold of the competition in the men’s 4x400m relay, beating the British team by just 0.03 seconds. The British quartet of Matthew Hudson-Smith, Toby Harries, Ben Jefferies, and Charlie Dobson took silver, with Hudson-Smith becoming the most decorated man in championship history with nine total medals.
Jazmin Sawyers delivered a standout performance in the long jump, producing a career-best leap of 6.99 metres. Although she finished just one centimetre behind Italy’s gold medallist Larissa Iapichino, the result marked a significant milestone in her return from a devastating Achilles rupture that had previously ended her Olympic ambitions. “There were minuscule moments where I doubted it,” Sawyers admitted, expressing her joy at returning to the podium.
The women’s 4x400m relay team also contributed to the medal haul, taking silver behind a Dutch quartet anchored by Femke Broeders-Bol. The British team, consisting of Yemi Mary John, Lina Nielsen, Nicole Yeargin, and Emily Newnham, finished 0.58 seconds behind the winners.
Hunter Bell’s current form, which includes a 2025 season where she outpaced training partner Keely Hodgkinson for world 800m silver, has sparked speculation about her potential to replicate Dame Kelly Holmes’ Olympic middle-distance double in 2028. Her current success follows a period of training under Trevor Painter, who also coaches Hodgkinson.
For Hunt, the week in Birmingham served as a breakout performance. The Cambridge University graduate, who had openly declared her ambition to win all four sprint titles, lived up to the mounting pressure in front of the home crowd.
The championships, which saw five medals awarded to British athletes in a 76-minute window on the final day, highlighted the depth of the current GB squad. The event served as a testament to the resilience of athletes like Sawyers and Hunter Bell, both of whom have overcome significant career setbacks to reach the top of their respective disciplines.
As the curtain falls on the Birmingham event, the focus shifts to the upcoming World Ultimate Championships. With multiple athletes achieving record-breaking performances, the British team leaves the competition having firmly established their status as a dominant force in European athletics. The report also notes that that represented the 32-year-old’s seventh international medal in two years as she continues to build momentum on her fairytale return to the sport which she quit for five years following a promising junior career. The report also notes that dramatic last laps as GB take silver in men’s and women’s 4x400m relays. The report also notes that a decade on from capturing her first, hunt described team-mate Asher-Smith as “the real life GOAT” [greatest of all time] after the 30-year-old won a record-equalling seventh gold on Saturday night. The report also notes that despite feeling “absolutely terrified” during the event’s inaugural mixed 4x100m relay, Asher-Smith, world 200m champion in 2019, leaves Birmingham a 22-time international medallist in her senior career. The report also notes that but she has risen to the moment in front of her home crowd on each occasion and few expected her to falter once she took the baton and began her battle with Germany’s Gina Luckenkemper, the weight of expectation has increased with each success. The report also notes that who made her debut for Great Britain in 2024, set out to win golds at all four major championships in 2026, and will attempt to complete her set at the inaugural World Ultimate Championships in September, the 32-year-old. The report also notes that this was the latest chapter in her remarkable rise to the top of the sport which she had fallen out of love with amid repeated injuries caused by overtraining during her time on a track scholarship in the United States. The report also notes that coach of Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson, in 2022, she has gone from strength to strength ever since re-establishing contact with Trevor Painter.
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