Double sprint gold for Britain as Poles dominate the throws
Great Britain celebrated double sprint gold at the Berlin Olympic Stadium on Tuesday as Dina Asher-Smith won the women’s 100m in a British record of 10.85 seconds and Zharnel Hughes broke the championship record to win the men’s in 9.95.
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Dina’s victory is the first by a British woman since Dorothy Hyman won in Stockholm 56 years ago, while Zharnel’s gold made up for his frustration at being disqualified in the 200m final at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April. Dina said,
“I'm so happy with my time. I came here to be European champion, so I'm happy to have achieved that.”
"I didn't realise I had won until I turned around. Now, I'm going to have to deal with being the world lead - but I can deal with that."
There was excitement for the host nation too as Germany's Gina Luckenkemper won silver in in the women’s race in 10.98 ahead of defending champion Dafne Schippers (NED).
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In the men’s contest, Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut set a championship record of 9.97 in the semifinals. But he seemed to pull up as he crossed the line and was missing from the final where Hughes had enough power to lead a British one-two just 0.1 seconds in front of team-mate Reece Prescod. Turkey's Jak Ali Harvey clinched bronze in 10.01.
Poland's athletes also had a night to remember as their men won European gold and silver in both the hammer and the shot put. Wojciech Nowicki triumphed in the hammer ahead of defending champion Pawel Fajdek and two hours later Michal Haratyk won the shot from Konrad Bukowiecki.
Hungary's European under 23 champion, Bence Halasz, claimed bronze in the hammer while defending champion David Storl was third in the shot despite loud support from his home crowd. Morad Amdouni won 10,000m gold after a thrilling final lap tear-up. The Frenchman held off Belgium's Bashir Abdi to cross the line in 28 minutes 11.22 seconds with Italy's Yemaneberhan Crippa third.
In the absence of world champion Kevin Mayer (FRA), who pulled out of the decathlon after failing to get a mark in the long jump, it was Great Britain’s Tom Duckworth who led after the first day. The 22-year-old produced one of the greatest high jumps ever seen in a European decathlon when he cleared 2.17 metres to lead with 4380 points at the half way stage from Germany's Arthur Abel and Norway's Martin Roe.
