THERE was more gold for Dina Asher-Smith in the 200m and a hint of future medals to come for Beth Dobbin.
There was also redemption for Eilidh Doyle, who overcame her 400m hurdles eighth to take bronze alongside fellow Scot Zoey Clark in the 4x400m relay.
Asher-Smith is irresistible at present and completed the second leg of her three-gold target in Berlin, flying in at 21.89 to top the podium – the only woman in the world to run sub 22 seconds this year.
Dobbins’ rapid progression has been underlined all week in Berlin and the Edinburgh Athletics Club sprinter raced strongly to finish seventh in a time of 22.93, with Dafne Schippers taking silver and Jamile Samuel bronze.
“It felt so overwhelming,” said the 24-year-old. “It feels crazy to be part of my first international final, my first major championships final. It’s all just been a huge learning curve, I feel quite emotional and I am so pleased. This year I’ve taken it in my stride but it’s now hitting me what I’ve achieved, so I now just want to go back into training.
“I’ve been consistently running 22.8 or 22.9 and next year I want to be getting consistent around the 22-mids then the 22-lows eventually. I feel amazing, so emotional!”
The Scot was the fifth-ranked European ahead of the final and running in lane seven she was always in for a challenge against an experienced field, but stayed strong in the final 50 metres to finish well.
Dobbin has talked of moving into the 4x400m relay team over the next few years but there’s no questioning her class over 200m, or that of Asher-Smith, who is enjoying a golden 2018.
“If I’m honest I’m still in a bit of a haze,” said Asher-Smith, whose run set a British record. “I was thinking that out there I had a double world champion inside me, so it was ‘maintain your form, relax’ and all the other tips my coach gives me. Ultimately you’ve got to run like a bat out of hell – honestly I had the fear of god inside me!”
Running in the final event of the night in the Olympiastadion, Perthshire’s Doyle was looking to exercise her demons from the previous day’s final and achieved that feat as she anchored her team to third.
Great Britain had run second-fastest in qualifying and Aberdeen’s Clark started solidly, before Anyika Onuora and Amy Allcock’s legs saw Doyle take the baton in fourth position. A team could hope for no more determined competitor to run a final leg and Doyle turned on the afterburners to add a fourth European medal to her collection, with Poland first and France second.
“I said to my relay coach last night, ‘look, can you please give me the option to run’ because I just wanted to go out there and have another shot [after the 400m hurdles on Friday] ,” Doyle said.
“It’s the best kind of cure after disappointment to be able to pick yourself up again, these girls are great in that situation and they support you. To get out there and have another opportunity to be selected and then to win a medal is a nice end to the championships for me.”
There was more medal success for Great Britain in the women’s long jump, where Shara Proctor jumped to bronze behind Maryna Bekh and Germany’s Malaika Mihambo, second and first.
A day after storming to gold in the 400m, superstar Birmingham sprinter Matt Hudson-Smith added to his Berlin collection with a silver after a magnificent third-leg run in the 4x400m relay team.
The Brits were well down the order after the first two legs, with Spain running out at breakneck pace, but the Spanish couldn’t keep up the pace on the home straight and Martyn Rooney stole a valuable second behind Belgium.
In an amazing 5000m, Norway’s 17-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen beat his older brother to win gold just a day after clinching the 1500m title. In doing so, he became the first athlete to complete the double at European level.
Ingebrigtsen’s time of 13:17.06 was a European under-20 record and his brother, Henrik, 27, finished second, 1.69 seconds behind with France’s Morhad Amdouni in third.
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