Keely Hodgkinson led from the front to claim 800 metres gold for Great Britain on the final day of the European Indoor Championships in Torun.
Four days after her 19th birthday, Hodgkinson held Polish pair Joanna Jozwik and Angelika Cichocka at bay to become Britain’s youngest European Indoors champion since 1970.
It capped a series of remarkably composed performances from Hodgkinson, making her debut in a major senior international Championships, who crossed the line in two minutes 03.88 seconds.
A brilliant race from @keelyhodgkinson to take the 800m European Indoor title! 🥇 She holds off the rest of the field to take the gold in 2:03.88 Great performances from @EllieBaker1998 in 4th (2:04.40) and @IsabelleBoffey (6th 2:07.26)#Torun2021 pic.twitter.com/DgNvngzbUR — British Athletics (@BritAthletics) March 7, 2021
Fellow Britons Ellie Baker and Isabelle Boffey finished in fourth and sixth places respectively in the final.
Hodgkinson told the BBC: “You never understand the shock of when it actually happens – you picture it in your head so many times but when the reality comes through it’s very different.
“I didn’t want to think about the pressure because I’m only 19 and I’m still learning.
“I wanted to take the same relaxed state as I had through the heats and the semi-final, and it really paid off because I really believed in myself.”
Britain’s Jamie Webb took a bronze medal in the men’s 800m final.
Webb, a silver medallist at the 2019 Championships, led for much of the race but was overhauled by Polish pair Patryk Dobek and Mateusz Borkowski, finishing in a time of 1min 46.95sec.
Andrew Pozzi had to settle for the silver medal in the men’s 60 metres hurdles final despite equalling his personal best of 7.43 seconds.
Pozzi was pipped by Wilhem Belocian of France by one hundredth of a second and admitted: “I started very well but I lost a couple of seconds in the middle – I’m a bit disappointed but I gave everything I could.
“I’m definitely in the best shape of my life but the timing wasn’t quite perfect. But they’re two incredibly fast times so you just accept it.”
Sisters Cindy Sember and Tiffany Porter claimed silver and bronze medals respectively in the women’s 60m hurdles.
The pair finished behind reigning champion Nadine Visser of the Netherlands, who stormed to a clear victory in 7.77 seconds, with Sember crossing the line in 7.89sec and Porter three hundredths further back.
Britain’s men’s and women’s 4x400m relay teams rounded off the Championships with bronze and silver medals respectively.
The women’s quartet of Jessie Knight, Zoey Clark, Jodie Williams and Ama Pipi finished second in an eventful women’s race behind gold medallists the Netherlands.
And the men’s team of Joe Brier, Owen Smith, Lee Thompson and James Williams took bronze behind the Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
