Great Britain won seven medals on the final day of the European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam as a phenomenal day of British sport draws to a close.
The quartet of Adam Gemili, James Dasaolu, James Ellington and Chijindu Ujah stormed to victory in the men’s 4x100m relay, crossing the line in 38.17 seconds, ahead of France and Germany to be crowned European champions.
Their win came just minutes after Dina Asher-Smith, Asha Phillips, Daryll Neita and Bianca Williams bagged a silver medal in the women’s equivalent, hitting a season best of 42.25 behind the Netherlands on home soil.
Gemili said: “We are delighted to get it right and have two good rounds. We’ve all got Rio to push on for and we are excited to see how far we can go.
“We will be in better shape then, than we are at the moment. We don’t want to be making up the numbers, we want to be challenging for medals in Rio.”
And it isn’t just the men who are aiming high at the Olympic Games next month, as Asher-Smith admitted there is more still to come from the women’s four.
“There is definitely more in the tank,” she said. “We want to be running our fastest times in August at the Olympics.
“We’ve all got to hit our peaks individually during the summer so there is definitely more to come, it bodes well.”
Elsewhere, a magnificent display from the women’s 4x400m relay team – Seren Bundy-Davies, Eilidh Doyle, Anyika Onuora and Emily Diamond – saw them secure European gold in a world lead time of 3:25.05 minutes.
The men’s team of Delano Williams, Rabah Yousif, Jack Green and Matt Hudson also made an appearance on the podium, picking up the bronze medal in 3:01.44 after finishing just 0.34 seconds behind champions Belgium, with Poland in second.
There was double medal joy for Great Britain in the men’s high jump as Olympic bronze medallist Robbie Grabarz and Chris Baker won silver and bronze respectively.
Both overcame nervy starts, with Grabarz fouling at 2.24m and Baker doing the same at 2.29m, before clearing the height to clinch second and third behind Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi, who jumped 2.32 to bag gold.
Grabarz said: “It was great to jump with each other to be honest; we use each other in a positive way.
“But we both should have jumped higher! It’s great to get to this point in the season and be winning a medal, so it is great preparation for Rio.”
Elliot Giles won his maiden European medal with a bronze in the men’s 800m final, crossing the line behind Polish duo Adam Kszczot and Marcin Lewandowski in a huge personal best time of 1:45.54.
“It is my first GB vest, my first championships and my first medal, so that is an achievement in itself. I actually thought I had got second but I am really happy with the bronze medal,” he said.
Also making her senior debut, Sarah McDonald finished ninth in a sprint to the line in the women’s 1500m final, recording a time of 4:34.93, while Jonathan Taylor and Jonathan Davies finished 13th and 16th respectively in the 5000m and Chris Bennett placed tenth in his first European final in the hammer throw.
Sportsbeat 2016