Great Britain concluded the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham with a flourish, securing a historic mixed 4x100m relay victory that highlighted a dominant week for the host nation. The quartet, featuring sprint stars Amy Hunt and Dina Asher-Smith alongside Jeremiah Azu and Zharnel Hughes, set a new European record of 39.97 seconds. This triumph marked a significant milestone, as the team secured six out of seven possible gold medals across the sprint events.
For 24-year-old Amy Hunt, the relay gold represented an unprecedented fourth title at the championships, following her previous wins in the 100m, 200m, and women’s 4x100m relay. Reflecting on the achievement, Hunt said Sport that finishing the competition alongside her closest friends in the sport was an incredible experience. She also praised her teammate Asher-Smith, labeling the 30-year-old the “real life GOAT” after she secured her eighth gold and 11th medal overall, cementing her status as the most successful athlete in the competition’s 92-year history.
The success extended to the middle-distance track, where Georgia Hunter Bell claimed a commanding 1500m gold. Finishing in 4:07.78—more than a second ahead of Poland’s Klaudia Kazimierska—Hunter Bell continued her remarkable career resurgence. Having previously stepped away from the sport for five years, the 32-year-old has now secured seven international medals in two years, including world indoor and Commonwealth titles. She is currently pursuing a quadruple of major championship golds, with the inaugural World Ultimate Championships in September serving as her next target.
Hunter Bell’s journey back to the top has been defined by her collaboration with coach Trevor Painter. Her versatility was further evidenced during the 2025 season, where she secured world 800m silver, fueling speculation about a potential bid to replicate Dame Kelly Holmes’ Olympic middle-distance double in 2028. Her current form suggests she is well-positioned to continue her momentum on the global stage.
In the field, long jumper Jazmin Sawyers delivered a career-best performance, leaping 6.99 metres to secure silver. Despite finishing just one centimetre behind Italy’s gold medallist Larissa Iapichino, Sawyers expressed immense satisfaction with her return to form. The 32-year-old, who previously suffered a career-threatening Achilles rupture, noted that she was too happy with her performance to be frustrated by the narrow margin of defeat.
The host nation’s final medal tally reached 19, though they were narrowly pipped to the top of the overall medal table by Italy. The Italian team secured the final gold of the competition in the men’s 4x400m relay, edging out the British quartet by a mere 0.03 seconds. Despite the narrow loss, the British men’s 4x400m team—comprising Matthew Hudson-Smith, Toby Harries, Ben Jefferies, and Charlie Dobson—provided a strong finish, with Hudson-Smith becoming the most decorated man in championship history with his ninth career medal.
The women’s 4x400m relay team also contributed to the tally, earning silver behind a Dutch quartet anchored by Femke Broeders-Bol. The British team, consisting of Yemi Mary John, Lina Nielsen, Nicole Yeargin Nielsen, Nicole Yeargin, and Emily Newnham, finished 0.58 seconds behind the winners, capping off a busy final day that saw the home nation collect five medals within a 76-minute window.
Zharnel Hughes, who played a pivotal role in the relay success, also reached a personal milestone. By securing his sixth gold at the championships, he surpassed the records of Matthew Hudson-Smith, Mo Farah, and Roger Black to become the most successful British man in the event’s history.
For Dina Asher-Smith, the championships were a testament to her enduring legacy. Despite admitting to feeling “absolutely terrified” during the inaugural mixed relay, she leaves Birmingham as a 22-time international medallist. Her record-equalling seventh gold on Saturday night served as a reminder of her decade-long dominance in the sport.
Amy Hunt’s performance throughout the week has signaled her emergence as a new icon of British athletics. After graduating from Cambridge University, she set out with the bold ambition of capturing all four sprint titles, a goal she achieved through consistent composure under the pressure of a home crowd.
The championships, the first of their kind to be hosted in Great Britain, concluded with a series of dramatic relay finishes. The intensity of the competition was reflected in the narrow margins across both the men’s and women’s 4x400m events, where the British teams fought until the final lap.
As the event drew to a close, the focus shifted to the future, with athletes like Hunter Bell and Hunt looking toward upcoming global challenges. The success of the British team, built on a mix of seasoned veterans and rising stars, provided a fitting end to a historic week of European athletics in Birmingham. The report also notes that sprint sensation Hunt held up four fingers to the camera after holding off Germany’s challenge on the home straight of the mixed 4x100m relay as another sell-out crowd roared the 24-year-old on to an unprecedented fourth. The report also notes that despite feeling “absolutely terrified” during the event’s inaugural mixed 4x100m relay, Asher-Smith, world 200m champion in 2019, leaves Birmingham a 22-time international medallist in her senior career. The report also notes that who made her debut for Great Britain in 2024, set out to win golds at all four major championships in 2026, and will attempt to complete her set at the inaugural World Ultimate Championships in September, the 32-year-old. The report also notes that based on her performances this week, Hunt is only just getting started with her growing medal collection. The report also notes that but she has risen to the moment in front of her home crowd on each occasion and few expected her to falter once she took the baton and began her battle with Germany’s Gina Luckenkemper, the weight of expectation has increased with each success. The report also notes that this was the latest chapter in her remarkable rise to the top of the sport which she had fallen out of love with amid repeated injuries caused by overtraining during her time on a track scholarship in the United States. The report also notes that coach of Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson, in 2022, she has gone from strength to strength ever since re-establishing contact with Trevor Painter.
