Femke Bol won gold and Great Britain added three medals to their tally on the penultimate day of European Indoor Athletics Championships yesterday.
Dutch pre-event favourite Bol stormed to the women’s 400m title, taking the title in 50.64 seconds to cement her position as one of the brightest prospects in European athletics.
Poland’s Justyna Swiety-Ersetic picked up the silver medal on home soil behind the 20-year-old, while British team captain Jodie Williams took bronze despite a tricky lane draw.
The Dutch had to settle for silver and bronze in the men’s 400m, with Spain’s Oscar Husillos taking the gold medal in 46.22 ahead of Tony Van Diepen in second and Liemarvin Bonevacia in third.
Marcell Jacobs stormed to 60m gold in the final race of the night, taking the title with a run of 6.47, though Brit Andrew Robertson had to settle for fourth.
There was major controversy in the women’s 1500m, with Holly Archer eventually securing an impressive silver medal after originally being disqualified following a slow and scrappy final.
Archer finished behind Belgian Elise Vanderelst who took home the gold medal, with Hanna Klein taking the bronze medal. Herne Hill’s Katie Snowden finished in sixth.
However there was disappointment for gold medal favourite Holly Bradshaw, who had to settle for a bronze medal in the pole vault with Switzerland’s Angelica Moser taking a surprise gold.
Perhaps the most dramatic final of the night was the women’s long jump final, where Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk’s sixth round effort of 6.92m saw her edge out outdoor world champion Malaika Mihambo by just four centimetres.
Decathlon world record holder Kevin Mayer holds a narrow lead in the heptathlon ahead of the second day of the event, with the Frenchman 33 points ahead of Simon Ehammer.
Earlier on in the evening there was huge success for Britain in the women’s 800m semi-finals, with all three Brits progressing to today’s final.
Keely Hodgkinson won the first semi-final before Isabelle Boffey and Ellie Baker finished second in the second and third semi-finals, and all three will be in the shout for medals.
Jamie Webb reached the final of the men’s 800m, where he will face the likes of former world outdoor champion Pierre-Ambroise Bosse and three-time champion Adam Kszczot for the title.
You can follow all of SWL’s European Indoor Athletics Championships coverage here.
Featured image credit: Erik van Leeuwen via Wikimedia Commons 2.0 license.
