Great Britain end European Athletics Championship with 13 medals as Dina Asher-Smith lands two golds

by Admin
June 12, 2024

Dina Asher-Smith ended the European Athletics Championships with two gold medals after helping Great Britain seal their 13th piece of silverware in Rome.

Great Britain took a strong track and field team to Rome for the 26th European Athletics Championships, headlined by Asher-Smith, Keely Hodgkinson and Katarina Johnson-Thompson.

They were still missing Zharnel Hughes, Matthew Hudson-Smith and Josh Kerr but there was plenty of optimism about a strong medal haul.

Things got off to the worst possible start on the opening day of the event when Johnson-Thompson withdrew midway through the heptathlon due to a ‘small niggle in her right leg’.

Her coach Aston Moore explained: “We don’t want to risk losing any time from training which could be the result if she was to carry on competing with it for another day.”

Britain’s women’s relay team won the 4x100m gold comfortably

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Britain’s wait for a first medal had to wait until Saturday night with George Mills taking silver in the men’s 5000m final behind Jakob Ingebrigsten.

Romell Glave then announced himself on the global stage as he took his first senior major international medal with a bronze in the men’s 100m final.

Calli Hauger-Thackery won the individual half-marathon bronze and helped them secure the team gold for Britain’s first top prize of the championships.

More medals followed later on Sunday with Elizabeth Bird winning bronze in the women’s 3000m steeplechase final and Georgia Bell continued her impressive 2024 form with a silver in the 1500m race.

Asher-Smith was up next in the women’s 100m final having cruised through the semi-finals in a European-lead time of 10.96.

She was unable to match that time in the final, but comfortably took gold for her first major title in five years.

Monday saw Molly Caudery take bronze in a hugely competitive pole vault final before Charles Dobson took his first major individual medal with silver in the men’s 400m event.

Megan Keith and Daryll Neita added bronze and silver in the 10km and 200m finals respectively on the penultimate day of the championship.

And it was a double-gold salvo for Great Britain to end the championship on Wednesday.

Hodgkinson successfully defended her 800m European crown despite admitting to “picking up an illness”.

She added: “Sometimes you’ve just got to find a way to win.

Keely Hodgkinson successfully defended her 800m crown

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“I wanted to go out and get a good time today but I’m happy with the win.

“I think I would have been disappointed if I didn’t try.”

Asher-Smith then helped Great Britain maintain their incredible record in the 4x100m relay as the team including Neita, Amy Hunt and Desiree Henry took gold.

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The women’s half marathon team also won gold

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“That felt amazing, we are definitely trying new things before the Olympic Games,” Asher-Smith said.

“Obviously, we are looking to absolutely do amazing in Paris.

“We’ve got such a deep squad and so many amazing athletes, we are just trying things out.

“That was great, it was so slick and so smooth.”