Great Britain's Amy Hunt powered through the field to win 100m gold at the European Athletics Championships on Monday (10) in 11.00.
In summary
- Hunt wins first major senior title
- Swoboda repeats result from Rome with silver in 11.02
- Belgium's Nkansa takes bronze in personal best 11.05
European leader Géraldine Di Tizio-Frey of Switzerland was the quickest out of the blocks, closely pursued by Poland’s Ewa Swoboda and Belgium’s Delphine Nkansa, with Hunt having to make up significant ground.
But her strength told and she burst through with 20 metres to go to win her first major title, adding to the world 200m silver she won last year and the Commonwealth 100m silver she won last month.
Swoboda held her form well to take silver in 11.02, claiming her second successive silver at the European Athletics Championships, having finished runner-up to another British athlete – Dina Asher-Smith – at Roma 2024.
Asher-Smith had to settle for fifth on this occasion in 11.10.
Nkansa took bronze in a personal best of 11.06, just 0.01 ahead of Di Tizio-Frey, who faded to fourth after her early lead.
In the semifinals earlier in the evening, Hunt had laid down a marker of her intentions, storming to victory in 10.99 (1.0m/s). Di Tizio-Frey was also impressive, winning the second semifinal in 11.02 (1.1m/s), with Swoboda taking the third semifinal in 11.04 (0.9m/s).
What they said...
Amy Hunt: "That performance is one step closer to being like (TV character) Sharpay Evans. I really want to win it all and I'm so happy now I've got one out of four done. Hopefully I can take this momentum
and the good vibes into the rest of the week. I'm so excited to see what it brings me.
"I felt so euphoric crossing the line as the first half of the race was a little bit messy. I believe that part of the race was not to the best of my abilities so I did leave it late in the second half.
"That was a little bit lastminute.com of me. I have a long championships left so today getting back to sleep tonight is vital for me."
Ewa Swoboda: "In the semis, I felt so stressed because it was my first run of the day. In the final I felt so good, so confident, because my coach told me, 'You can do it, you can do a great run, you will be OK.'
"When you go to the final, you just think, 'Ok, I'm in the final and I can do everything.' I think when you are in the final, you always feel confident.
"After the race, I cried a little bit. In 2024 I was so sad, because it was a tough year. I didn't make it to the final at the Olympics but I was this close. I was sad for two years I think.
"My psychologist helped me to return to myself and now I can do everything - I have a silver medal again. This is just great, I am so proud."
Delphine Nkansa: "It was really hard to keep my energy both mentally and physically after coming all the way from the heats to the semis and then to the final. I had to speak to my psychologist after the heats but also had pain in my hamstring after the semi-final.
"It was my first final at the European championships and I told myself that it is my last race of the day so let's see. I wanted a medal but I didn't expect it because of the pain in my hamstring. I'm shocked as I wasn't the favourite for a medal.
"Over the last two years I kept running at 11.20 but only at the end of June I started to run at 11.17 then 11.13. So I started to dream of running at 11.0-something. This morning I ran 11.07, then 11.10 with a hamstring issue, then 11.06 and a medal in the final. That was a dream that came true.
"I have a lot to improve in the future and I'm curious as to where I can go. The Olympic Games are in two years so I have to improve both mentally and physically. But I am confident for the future."