Dina Asher-Smith and Laura Muir will tonight hope to kick off a late British gold rush ahead of the final weekend of the European Athletics Championships in Munich.
Last night, Britain’s medal tally rose to nine, after Jake Heyward won 1500m bronze behind Norwegian star Jakob Ingebrigtsen, while Jazmin Sawyers took a dramatic long jump bronze with her final attempt, and Eilish McColgan added 5,000m bronze to her 10,000m silver from earlier in the week.
Britain are languishing in ninth in the medal table having won just a single gold so far — Matthew Hudson-Smith’s in the men’s 400m — but have stacks of chances over the final three days, starting with Muir in the women’s 1500m this evening.
The Scot has run more than five seconds quicker than any of her rivals this season and it would appear fatigue at the end of a long summer will be the biggest threat to her hopes of adding to world silver and Commonwealth gold over the distance.
Asher-Smith, meanwhile, goes in the 200m looking to secure her first major international title since she became Britain’s first female world champion in the event in 2019.
A run of injuries have plagued the 26-year-old at championships over the past 12 months, and after qualifying fastest for tonight’s final she revealed that the calf cramps which led to her finishing last in Tuesday’s 100m were caused by her period, calling for more research into the issue. She said: “Sometimes you see girls that have been so consistent and there’s a random dip and behind the scenes they’ve been really struggling. Everybody else will go ‘What’s that? That’s random.’
“So we could just do with more funding. I feel if it was a men’s issue there would be a million different ways to combat things.”
Tomorrow, Keely Hodgkinson will be hoping to finally top a senior outdoor podium for the first time, having won 800m world, Olympic and Commonwealth silver over the past 12 months.
Hodgkinson cruised into the final this morning with victory in her semi-final in a time of 2:00.67.
She will be joined by follow Brits Gemma Reekie and Alex Bell in the final after they finished second and third in their semi-final. On the last night of action on Sunday, world 1500m champion Jake Wightman will hope to be involved in the 800m final, although he must first come through a semi-final this evening, while Britain’s relay teams could significantly boost the medal haul.
Tonight’s schedule also features a pair of 400m hurdles finals that could provide some of the highlights of the meeting. Olympic champion and world record holder Karsten Warholm is hoping to salvage an injury-wrecked season by defending his title, while Dutch sensation Femke Bol is the red-hot favourite in her specialist event having already triumphed in the flat 400m as she looks to become the first female athlete to complete the double at a major championships.
