European Championships 2018: Dina Asher-Smith achieves sprint double with 200m win
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Athletics European Championships |
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Venue: Olympic Stadium, Berlin. Dates: 7-12 August |
Coverage: Live across BBC TV, BBC Radio 5 live and sports extra plus the BBC Sport website with further coverage on BBC iPlayer, Red Button, Connected TVs and mobile app. |
Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith completed a European Championships sprint double with a stunning victory in the 200m final in Berlin.
The 22-year-old, who broke her own British record to win the 100m, did so once again in the 200m as she left world champion Dafne Schippers trailing to take gold in 21.89 seconds.
Fellow Briton Shara Proctor, 29, took bronze in the women's long jump.
And GB's men won 4x400m relay silver, before the women's quartet took bronze.
Laviai Nielsen, 22, finished fourth in the women's 400m final.
The London 2012 volunteer, who helped Great Britain win world 4x400m silver last year but was not part of the relay team on Saturday night, clocked 51.21 secs, with Poland's Justyna Ersetic-Swiety winning gold in 50.41 secs.
Britons Marc Scott (fifth), Chris Thompson (ninth) and Ben Connor (11th) failed to challenge for medals in the 5,000m final, which was won by 17-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen, with his brother Henrik - 10 years Jakob's senior - taking silver.
The Norwegian had become the youngest ever European champion when he won the 1500m on Friday.
London athlete Jade Lally was 11th in the women's discus final.
Other British highlights from day 10
European Championships medal table
Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
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1 | Russia | 28 | 16 | 13 | 57 |
2 | Great Britain | 22 | 25 | 19 | 66 |
3 | Netherlands | 14 | 11 | 12 | 37 |
4 | France | 13 | 11 | 12 | 36 |
5 | Germany | 12 | 16 | 22 | 50 |
'This is new territory for me'
Asher-Smith kept her treble bid alive with an impressive win in the 200m, as she became the first woman to dip under 22 seconds this year.
She is also now the fourth woman to have achieved the sprint double after Schippers (2014), Poland's Irena Szewinska (1974) and legendary Dutch sprinter Fanny Blankers-Koen (1950).
"It's joy and also a shock," Asher-Smith, who will bid to win her third gold in the 4x100m relay final on Sunday, told BBC Sport.
"Things in my life don't normally go to plan. I crossed the line and thought, 'I've won'. I looked at the time and couldn't believe it.
"This is completely new territory for me. I looked at those who had run sub-22 and used it as motivation - I've now done it. It is down to all of coach John Blackie's hard work, focus and dedication since I was eight. It's testament to his own skills."
Silver medallist Schippers clocked a season's best of 22.14 secs in second and fellow Dutch athlete Jamile Samuel took bronze in 22.37 secs.
Asher-Smith's team-mate Bianca Williams was sixth (22.88 secs) with British champion Beth Dobbin seventh (22.93 secs).
'That was amazing' - analysis
Michael Johnson, four-time Olympic gold medallist on BBC TV
That was a fantastic race, faster than we expected given the conditions. We all expected Dina to go under 22 seconds, and now she's done that.
When Dina got going, she was already up on Samuel on the outside and she came off the bend with a fantastic lead.
She's so confident now. We can say now, at this point, she's mastered this 200m event. That was amazing.
Female sprinters will see this and they will absolutely take notice of what Asher-Smith has done. Schippers can tell them all about what happened - she had a front row seat.
She is absolutely now one of the best in the world. When other athletes are training for these world medals, they will have Dina Asher-Smith in mind.
Proctor shines in long jump thriller
One of most exciting field events at this year's championships saw Britons Proctor and 2016 silver medallist Sawyers hold second and third positions up until the final round of jumps.
Ukraine's Maryna Bekh was in fourth and then produced a season's best 6.73 with her last attempt, pushing former The Voice UK singer Sawyers out of the top three and Proctor down to bronze.
Germany's Malaika Mihambo won gold with 6.75m.
"I had to fight for my spot and I love that," said Proctor, the 29-year-old British record holder.
"I came away with a medal and I'm happy. I'm back to where I want to be. I'm healthy, strong, confident and I know I can go further. I have a lot more talent and a lot more to come."
Lorraine Ugen, who jumped a world leading 7.05m personal best in the British trials last month, finished in ninth after only managing 6.45m.
GB relay squads add to tally
The British men's 4x400m team of Rabah Yousif, Dwayne Cowan, 400m champion Matthew Hudson-Smith and Martyn Rooney seemed set to emulate the team's bronze medal of four years ago with Spain and Belgium in the gold and silver spots on the last leg.
However, Spain's Bruno Hortelano crumbled in the final 50m allowing both Belgium's Kevin Borlee and then Rooney to overtake.
"Everyone was so scared of us so they changed their orders just to beat us," said Rooney, 31, who has now won six relay medals at Olympic, world and European level.
"Spain front-loaded their team and I knew if I could track them I was going to be OK."
Commonwealth 400m hurdles silver medallist Eilidh Doyle led her British team - which included Zoey Clark, Anyika Onuora, Amy Allcock - to bronze, behind Poland and winners France.
GB look to end championships with a flourish - day 11 highlights
Britons to watch:
Gold medals: 25 in athletics, diving, swimming, golf, cycling, gymnastics and athletics.
10:30 BST - There is no Mark Cavendish but Adam Blythe and Ben Swift will fancy their chances if there is a bunch sprint in the men's road race.
12:30 - Grace Reid, 3m springboard gold medallist, and Kat Torrance go for gold in the synchronised 3m springboard final.
13:00 - Golf pairings Laura Davies and Georgia Hall, and Michele Thomson and Meghan Maclaren will be hoping to compete for women's foursomes gold in the final - first they must navigate through the morning semi-finals.
15:00 - Olympic and world champion Max Whitlock will aim to reclaim his European pommel horse title.
19:00 - Scot Laura Muir is one of the strong favourites to win the women's 1500m.
20:20 & 20:35 - The inaugural 11-day multi-event competition finishes with the women's and men's 4x100m relay finals. Great Britain's Dina Asher-Smith is hoping for a third gold in Berlin, and team-mate Zharnel Hughes will be seeking to add another title to his 100m crown.
Network coverage: 08:00-13:15, BBC Two; 13:15-17:00, BBC One; 17:00-18:30, BBC Two; 18:30-21:00, BBC One
Radio coverage: 19:30-20:30, BBC Radio 5 live
Further coverage: 07:30-21:00, golf, diving, open water swimming and road cycling, BBC Red Button.
- Published8 August 2018