Athletics
6y

Matthew Hudson-Smith and Jakob Ingebrigtsen star at European Championships

Olympic Sports

Great Britain's Matthew Hudson-Smith produced a fearless run to take gold in the final of the 400m at the European Championships.

The 23-year-old came home with a winning time of 44.78 seconds to secure his country's third athletics gold medal ahead of twin brothers Kevin and Jonathan Borlee who took silver and bronze for Belgium.

In the heptathlon Katerina Johnson-Thompson won silver with a personal-best points tally as Nafi Thiam -- also of Belgium -- won a hard-fought gold.

Hudson-Smith seemed to be a man on a mission as he flew out of the blocks at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

He admitted he had ignored advice from his coach and decided to 'go for it' from the start, building a huge lead up to 300 metres.

Although he tied up in the home straight. Hudson-Smith held on for his most significant outdoor success to date.

Johnson-Thompson lead on the second day of the heptathlon and extended her advantage to 113 points with an impressive effort of 6.68 metres in the long jump.

But Thiam turned the competition around with a championship-record throw of 57.91 metres in the javelin to relegate Johnson-Thompson to silver.

And the Olympic and World Champion held on for the gold despite Johnson-Thompson's brave efforts to close the gap in the 800 metres.

Elsewhere Jakob Ingebrigtsen became the youngest ever track winner at the European Championships as he overcame his brothers to win the final of the 1500 metres.

The 17-year-old from Norway held off the challenge of elder siblings Filip and Henrik to elevate himself from a precocious junior to a senior superstar -- winning in 3 minutes and 38.1 seconds.

All three brothers are now European champions at middle distance -- Henrik, 27, and Filip, 25 won the same title in 2012 and 2016 respectively -- but the family believe the youngest can become the greatest.

Their father and coach Gjert highlighted Saturday's 5000 metre final as another chance to make history.

"Jakob can win there, too. He can become a double champion here," he said.

"He didn't look tired at the end of his race. It's quite ridiculous that he's won, he's only 17 years old. He leads from 600 metres and runs just right away from them. I am extremely surprised at the outcome. That's madness!"

"There is nothing that surprises me about him any more," said Henrik after finishing fourth.

"There is a greater chance that Jakob will win the 5000 metres than winning the 1500 metres. Then you can do the maths yourself!"

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