Team GB's time in Krakow was filled with many amazing moments as medals flowed and records were broken. We picked out five of the very best from 12 days of action.
Eden Cheng gets the party started
A gold medal at the Games is always special, and Eden Cheng duly delivered with a stunning victory in the women’s 10m platform.
Cheng followed up her top spot in qualifying with superb consistency in the final, edging out second-placed Christina Wassen by less than a point.
It earned Cheng not only a maiden senior individual international gold medal, but also scooped Team GB a quota place at Paris 2024.
Cheng’s gold marked the beginning of a successful week in the pool, with a total of seven medals including two other golds thanks to Ross Haslam in the men’s 1m springboard and Desharne Bent-Ashmeil and Amy Rollinson in the women’s 3m springboard synchro.
About last night 🤩
— Team GB (@TeamGB) June 24, 2023
Eden Cheng came up clutch in the women's 10m platform at the #EuropeanGames2023 pic.twitter.com/GsMsBAVNZ2
Sevens squad book Paris place
Gold medals seldom come as sweet as sealing Olympic qualification by beating the hosts 33-0 in their own back yard.
That’s exactly what Team GB’s women’s rugby sevens side achieved, as they capped a stellar unbeaten campaign in Krakow in style to ensure they would be on the plane to Paris next year.
Victories against Norway, Italy, and Czechia saw Team GB ease through the group stage before knockout ties against Germany and Belgium were both safely navigated to set up a final with Poland.
But the hosts were no match for the ruthless British team, who erupted into iconic celebrations at the final whistle.
See you in Paris @GBRugbySevens 😍 pic.twitter.com/7BrZAv6EUt
— Team GB (@TeamGB) June 27, 2023
Ella Gibson sets world record
She might not have taken home a gold medal but Ella Gibson sent tremors around the range by setting a new world record in the women’s 50m compound competition.
Gibson smashed the eight-year-old record of rival Sara Lopez, shooting a score of 715 out of a possible 720.
That achievement came in spite of far from ideal preparation in Poland, after discovering her rest was broken on arrival in Krakow.
Some borrowed equipment and help from her fellow archers set Gibson up for her stunning world record, before the 23-year-old was agonisingly pipped to gold by Italy’s Elisa Roner in the final.
Ella Gibson you beauty 😍
— Team GB (@TeamGB) June 23, 2023
It's a World Record for the individual compound archer.
📸@worldarchery#EuropeanGames2023 pic.twitter.com/femncUBiYv
Rosie Eccles earns emotional bronze
All journeys to the top of elite sport are not without their obstacles, but Rosie Eccles’ has been tougher than most.
The Welsh boxer missed out on competing at Tokyo 2020 due to a virus that affected her right arm, before bouncing back to claim Commonwealth gold last summer.
The virus struck again earlier this year putting her Paris hopes in jeopardy, but Eccles is a fighter in and out of the ring, working her way back to fitness to earn bronze at the 2023 European Games.
Victory in her quarter-final clash with Irish world champion Amy Broadhurst not only guaranteed Eccles a medal, but a place in Paris too and what it meant was written all over her face.
Jade Jones back to her best
Two-time Olympic champion Jade Jones is back at the top of the taekwondo tree with a sublime gold in the women’s -57kg category.
Jones admitted the road after defeat in Tokyo, which ended her dominance of the near total dominance of the sport, had been difficult but the headhunter looked at her devastating best to defeat Hungary’s Luana Marton.
Victory in Krakow followed a recent Grand Prix victory in Rome, with Jones seemingly timing her return to form perfectly ahead of an Olympic year, where she will hope to earn a historic third gold.
Sportsbeat 2023