Great Britain delivered two medals at the 2024 European Championships in Rome on Saturday, while hosts Italy stole the show at the Stadio Olimpico. Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs defended the 100m gold medal he won in Munich two years ago, while Brit Romell Glave finished third to seal bronze. Earlier, George Mills claimed Britain’s first medal of the championships with silver in the 5000m.
Olympic champion Marcell Jacobs retained his 100m title at the European Championships on home soil in Rome as he overcame Great Britain’s Romell Glave, who secured bronze.
In an evening littered with false starts in the sprint races, Jacobs stormed to victory in a season-best time of 10.02 seconds, completing an Italian one-two.
The 29-year-old fought off competition from compatriot Chituru Ali in second place and Glave in third, with the Brit crossing the line in 10.06.
The win confirmed back-to-back European crowns for Jacobs after he claimed his maiden gold in Munich in 2022, and he will bid to defend his Olympic title in Paris this summer.
Britain’s first medal at the 2024 European Championships came as George Mills secured silver in the 5000m.
Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen romped to victory in the 5000m as he secured a third successive title with a 13:20.11 time, leaving 25-year-old Mills to battle with Switzerland’s Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu.
With Lobalu closing in on the final bend, the Brit managed to stay ahead and strengthened his grip on second place before crossing the line in a time of 13:21.38, edging Lobalu to second place.
Following the race, Mills outlined his plans for the upcoming Olympic Games in the French capital this summer.
“I want to run the 1500m and the 5000m in Paris and hopefully tonight has done my chances of selection no harm,” he said. “We’ll see.
We are still three weeks out to trials, straight back to training as of tonight or tomorrow and then we’ll get stuck in.”
In the women’s 100m hurdles, Cindy Sember posted a season-best time of 12.56 but narrowly missed out on a podium finish by 0.14 seconds.
The American-born sprinter breezed through qualification with an electric run – her 12.64 effort being the third fastest across the three semi-finals – but came up short in a strong final field and finished fourth.
France’s Cyrena Samba-Mayela broke the 38-year-old European Championships record to storm to victory with a time of 12.31.
Following Katarina Johnson-Thompson’s withdrawal from the women’s heptathlon, Britain’s hopes were with Jade O’Dowda.
Belgium’s Nafi Thiam put in blistering displays across the seven events to win her third successive European outdoor crown, while third-place in the 800m earned O’Dowda a respectable seventh-placed finish.
In the early stages of the event, it was a frustrating evening for Britain as Jacob Fincham-Dukes also came close to a medal in the long jump, but could not close the gap on the top three.
Fincham-Dukes jumped 8.12m in his first attempt but ended up 0.19m short of the medal positions, as Miltiadis Tentoglou set a championship record with a sensational jump of 8.65.
Another fourth-placed finish for Britain came in the shot put as Scott Lincoln just missed out on a bronze medal.Lincoln’s best throw was 20.88m, which he could not improve on with his final throw, as hosts Italy added a third gold medal to their haul in Rome when Leonardo Fabbri blew the competition away with a competition record of 22.45 metres.
In the men’s 800m, Elliot Giles was narrowly beaten to first place in the opening semi-final by Italian Catalin Tecuceanu, but did enough to qualify for Sunday’s final after recording a time of 1:07.73.
Giles was not the only Brit bidding for a spot in the final. Thomas Randolph put in a spirited effort in the second race and even led the pack at the halfway stage, but the 25-year-old completely gassed in the final 100m and eventually finished last.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Croatian Sandra Elkasevic won her seventh European Championships gold in the discus.
Her first throw, which flew 67.04 metres was enough for victory, with Jorinde Van Klinken’s effort of 65.99 the next best.
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